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When Hannah was 3 years old, she watched Maelle Ricker win Gold in Snowboard Cross at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. She pointed to the TV image of Maelle on the podium wrapped in the Canadian flag and stated: “That’s what I want to do.” Fast forward fourteen years and Maelle is now one of her Coaches on the National Team!
Though all sports came very easily to Hannah as a child, she truly loved anything with speed and a touch of danger, with mountain biking and snowboarding quickly becoming her two main loves.
Raised in Whistler, BC she had plenty of opportunities for both. At the age of 12 she was asked to join the BC Snowboard team for Snowboard Cross, becoming its youngest member. Over the next three years she won most of the competitions she entered in BC and many around Canada.
While Hannah excelled in sport, school was incredibly challenging – leading to bouts of anxiety and depression. At the beginning of Grade 2, a Psychological Education Assessment determined that Hannah was in the 87th percentile for intelligence and less than 0.1% for reading. In short, she was severely dyslexic.
This began the first real challenge of Hannah’s life – how to overcome her dyslexia. After many years of sweat and tears, she has graduated with her grade 12 cohort in June 2025.
Hannah credits her dyslexia with teaching her how to overcome adversity and her mental toughness. If she can beat her learning challenges, then she can do anything. It is this lesson that she wants to pass on to other kids who struggle in school. Use your learning challenges to push you up – not down.
In her first-year racing internationally, Hannah won gold at the Canada Winter Games and 9th in Junior Worlds. In her second-year, she captured 3rd overall in the North American circuit. Today, Hannah is incredibly proud to be Canada Snowboard’s newest Next Gen athlete for Snowboard Cross.
She is excited about the 2025-2026 season with the goal of being on the overall podium again for the North American Cup and will participate in many World Cups across the globe. Her long-term goal remains firm – Gold at the Olympics – just like her coach and idol Maelle.