Yukon freestyle skier Etienne Geoffroy-Gagnon has spent the summer training in Montreal for a season that was up in the air until recently.

At the end of the month, Geoffroy-Gagnon will be heading to Switzerland to train before the competition circuit begins in the new year.

“It will be nice to be back on snow again after four or five months off,” said Geoffroy-Gagnon.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic had caused some unusualness to his typical summer regimen, Geoffroy-Gagnon said he’s been grateful for the training opportunities.

“It’s been a little weird but it’s given me the opportunity to be on the airbag at Maximise the last few months,” said Geoffroy-Gagnon. “I’ve progressed more in the last two months than I have ever before.

“I went full at it all summer with no distractions the last four or five months.”

Maximise is a training centre with an airbag, acting like the slope, that allows for year-round training. The airbag has the same inclination as a standard park landing.

During his training, Geoffroy-Gagnon said he was working mostly on his jump tricks.

“I did a little bit of rail tricks but mostly it was jump tricks,” said Geoffroy-Gagnon. “I’ve been pushing for bigger tricks, which meant a lot of jumps and work on my base – little things I didn’t have time to work on before.”

While training with the competition season in limbo, Geoffroy-Gagnon said it was difficult at some points.

“I was training every day but with nothing in sight it was sometimes hard to stay motivated,” he said. “But, I got it done.”

By his own admission, Geoffroy-Gagnon said in the past he has been more slopestyle oriented. By upgrading his jumps and spins, and adding grabs, he said it is a good opportunity for him to improve at big air competitions.

Last season, Geoffroy-Gagnon skied to several top 10 finishes in world cup competitions. He placed sixth in Italy and followed that with a fifth-place finish at Mammoth, Calif. His final event of the year in Calgary, he finished in seventh.

With the Winter Olympics being held in Beijing, China in 2022, a world championship competition will be held in 2021, hopefully. Geoffroy-Gagnon said that is his focus for the season.

“World championships are supposed to be in China and that’s where my focus will be,” said Geoffroy-Gagnon. “It’s a hill I’ve never been on so it will be harder to prepare for.

“At world cups, I’ll be pushing for podium finishes and that’s in sight, and will maintain my top four position in Canada. I just need to land my runs and beat what I did last year.

“The training I’ve been doing is going to give me a good opportunity for this season – I just don’t want to jinx anything.”

When competition does begin, Geoffroy-Gagnon believes it is going to be interesting to see how his fellow athletes have spent their offseason.

After he has finished his training in Europe, Geoffroy-Gagnon will be back in Whitehorse, practicing at Mount Sima through November and December – an opportunity he said, he is lucky to have.