Canmore’s Britt Richardson Reflects on Olympic Debut

Britt Richardson finished 26th in the women’s giant slalom on Feb. 15 at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games. Her two runs added up to 2 minutes, 16.65 seconds.

The 22-year-old Canmore skier says her first Olympic race felt real the moment she looked up in the start gate and saw the Olympic rings above her.

“I kind of looked up and I could see the panel above me with all the Olympic rings on it,” Richardson said. “I was like, holy ****. Okay, we’re actually doing this. I’m actually competing in the Olympics right now.”

Giant slalom is a two-run race. Skiers race the same course twice, and officials add the times together to decide the standings.

Richardson said she made a mistake near the end of her first run, which cost her time.

“The first run started good, and then at the bottom I made a costly mistake that pushed me back,” she said in a post-race quote shared by Team Canada.

But she still felt she had a chance to move up. 

“It didn’t bother me too much entering into the second run because I knew it was a tight race,” she said.

But she said an early mistake in the second run stopped that comeback.

“I had a big mistake about the eighth gate,” she said. “I nearly stopped and missed the next gate.”

She said the error made it hard to finish where she hoped.

“So that was for sure not in my plan, especially at the Olympics. It was a bummer,” Richardson said. 

She added that after that moment, “it was hard at all to be in the running for a good result.” 

Still, Richardson said she does not regret her approach. 

“We have to take the risks in order to get what we want, the results we want,” she said. “Sometimes it works out. Sometimes it doesn’t.”

Team Canada’s TV analyst Brian Stemmle called Richardson “the greatest technical skier Canada has ever seen.”

Richardson said the Olympics felt both familiar and completely different from the World Cup races she does every year. 

She said the event itself ran like a typical top-level race, so she tried to keep her routine steady between runs.

“I tried to keep things pretty normal,” she said. “I did some warm-up skiing between the runs, watched videos with my coaches. I tried not to get too stressed.”

What felt different, she said, was everything around the race.

“I don’t think people realize the kind of chaos that goes with the Olympics,” Richardson said. “It’s organized well, but compared to what we’re used to, there’s a lot more going on. More expectations. More things we have to do.”

She said the athletes’ village helped make the Games feel real, especially once she arrived and saw athletes from other countries and sports in one place.

“I think when I first entered the village is when it started to feel a little bit more real,” she said. “Seeing other athletes, having the dining hall, all the chaos of the Olympics was starting to come together.”

One place stood out.

“I really liked the Canada lounge,” Richardson said. “I didn’t know that was really a thing.” 

The Canada lounge was a shared space where Canadian athletes could meet and recharge.

“It was a super cool way to meet other Canadian athletes from different sports and different people from the Canadian Olympic Committee,” she said. “And they brought snacks from Canada.”

She also noticed the small details that made the week memorable.

“I also really liked the vending machines where you just get unlimited Gatorade or drinks,” she said.

For many Bow Valley residents, the Olympics can feel far away. Richardson said her family helped pull it back to something personal.

She said 13 family members travelled to Italy for her race, including her parents, her brother and extended family.

“That was insane,” she said. “The most family I’ve ever had at a race before.”

She said their presence mattered most after she crossed the finish line.

“Being able to hug them at the finish was really, really special,” Richardson said. “I finished my run and went up into the crowd to find them immediately.”

She said it felt rare, because she spends much of the season racing in Europe without moments like that.

“We don’t often get that racing over in Europe,” she said. “So that was a really special thing for me.”

Richardson said growing up in Canmore shaped both her training and her mindset.

“It’s such a hub for athletes,” she said. “There’s so many mountains close by. We have great gyms. And people are so supportive of athletes and the journey that they’re on.”

She said she felt that support during the Games, even from people she had not heard from in years.

“Seeing all my friends from kindergarten and preschool texting me for the Olympics was something I didn’t expect,” she said. “It was so special to see. It shows how tight-knit Canmore really is, and that everyone is truly rooting for each other.”

Richardson arrived at the Olympics with a strong record for her age. Team Canada says she won gold in giant slalom at the 2024 FIS Junior World Championships and finished 10th in giant slalom at the 2025 FIS World Championships.

Richardson said she hopes local kids see her Olympic debut as more than a result on a leaderboard. 

“I just want to help encourage the other young athletes from Canmore to keep pushing towards their dreams,” she said. “Dream big, because really anything can happen.”

Watch Britt Richardson’s race here.