Winter Olympics 2018: Sharpe dedicates halfpipe gold to late pioneer Burke
Cassie Sharpe had an emotional thought for compatriot Sarah Burke after winning another gold for Canada at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
Cassie Sharpe dedicated her ski halfpipe gold medal to fellow Canadian Sarah Burke, the late pioneer of the sport.
Burke won numerous X Games gold medallist in Superpipe and was the first woman to land a 1080 spin in competitive action, later successfully lobbying for the ski halfpipe event to be added to the Olympic program for the Sochi Games in 2014.
However, she died after suffering serious injuries in a training accident in 2012. Her ashes were later partly scattered on the Sochi halfpipe.
Sharpe, now trained by Burke's former coach Trennon Paynter, delivered a stunning second run on Tuesday to score 95.80 and take gold ahead of Marie Martinod of France and America's Brita Sigourney and was quick to pay tribute to a woman who had done so much to get her to Pyeongchang.
"I wouldn't be doing the tricks that I do without her," said Sharpe.
"Marie, because she is retiring after this, said that 'I feel like you have the ability to carry on what Sarah was doing here', so that felt really good.
"It's incredibly touching. I felt that she took over when Sarah passed and she was always the one keeping us stoked and firing us up and pushing us as well, so I hope that I can carry that on and help the younger girls come up and be fired up about it."
Martinod explained how Burke had inspired her to play a role in welcoming younger competitors into the sport.
"When she [Sharpe] arrived on the World Cup I was super welcoming [to] her, trying to make her feel confident," the 33-year-old said.
"That's the way I want those girls who are on the place now to act with the newcomers because Sarah would've done it with me and with so many other girls."