12-year-old N.W.T. snowboarding star says Olympian Liam Gill gave her confidence to win gold | CBC News

A 12-year-old snowboarder from Fort Smith, N.W.T., who has picked up two gold ulus at the Arctic Winter Games so far, says Olympic snowboarder Liam Gill inspires her confidence on the slopes.

Storm Cabell-White met Gill during a snowboarding clinic in her community nearly a year ago. Gill, 19, was born and raised in Calgary and is a member of Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę́ First Nation in the N.W.T. 

Hearing about the young athlete’s success, Gill said Tuesday, brightened his day.

“Storm is just so great, she’s got such good style, and I’m so happy for her,” said Gill from Mammoth Lakes in California, where he’s competing in a qualifier this week for a World Cup event. 

Gill travelled to Fort Smith, Fort Simpson and Yellowknife to ride with kids nearly a year ago, shortly after competing for Team Canada at the Olympics in Beijing. Cabell-White said she enjoyed having him around. 

“He would just tell us stories and he would snowboard with us and that was very fun,” said Cabell-White. “It made me feel like I wanted to go to those things … the Olympics sounded fun.”

After the clinic, Cabell-White said she felt more confident in herself. That confidence helped her win a gold ulu in a rail jam event Monday and a slopestyle event Tuesday. 

She thinks trying a new trick — the rainbow — is what helped her to win the rail jam event.

“I was scared at first because I thought I couldn’t do it, but I knew I could do it,” she said. 

Speaking to CBC News on Tuesday, before her second gold ulu was announced, Cabell-White said she was super excited about her first win at the Arctic Winter Games. 

“Everyone was watching me, taking pictures. I was at the centre of attention, it felt kind of weird when I was walking up for first place,” she said, adding she was “relieved” when she was no longer in the spotlight. 

Gill said he hopes to travel to the N.W.T. to do more clinics. 

“Those kids definitely inspired me and made me remember why I love snowboarding, and how stoked they were on everything. It was just amazing to see,” he said. 

“I can’t wait to be able to go back up there and spend some more time with them, definitely want to make it a yearly thing where I get to see them more often.”