As the planet gets warmer, some athletes have taken on a new role: climate advocates

This is the second installment of a two-part series examining how climate change is threatening the future of winter sport. You can read part one here.

In the seven years since Marion Thénault made the slopes her office, she’s seen the best and worst realities of working outside.

She’s seen beautiful winters and stunning snow, which the freestyle skier relies on to perform intricate jumps and tricks in the aerials discipline.

But she’s also had a front row seat to how climate change has impacted her sport and the world around her. With the planet getting warmer, winter sports like skiing are particularly vulnerable.

Thénault has been to World Cup events where the whole mountain was covered in green grass, except for the fake snow used to manufacture the area for competition — a dramatic contrast that has stuck with her.

"It just feels wrong to be there," Thénault said in an interview with CBC Sports. “It feels like I’m not welcome in that environment because it’s fake in some way."

Beyond how it looks, the former gymnast has experienced how climate change can alter performance. Melting snow can impact an aerial skier’s takeoff and speed.

As she launches into the air, every jump requires the most precise measurements and micro adjustments so Thénault knows exactly what to do mid-air and where she will land.

“Working with dry ice makes the jump hold but it also makes the jump slippery and the rest sticky,” she said. “This is a very important thing to get used to when it’s warmer outside. The speed changes more drastically because you're going to be sticky until it’s compacted, and then when it’s compacted, it’s going to go real fast. It’s a bit more dangerous in that way that it’s not as consistent.”

A 2024 study commissioned by the International Olympic Committee found the number of locations with the weather to host the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games is shrinking rapidly. It found just half of the 21 previous Olympic host cities would be suitable to host by the 2050s, due to climate change.

It’s an existential threat, but it’s not far off in the distance. Athletes who rely on the natural environment, like Thénault, are seeing the impact of climate change now and are speaking out about it.

For them, it's about more than preserving a sport. It's about protecting unique and special places in our country.

“I depend on snow coverage for my job,” Thénault said. “But also, we have a window on what’s happening in the mountains, and it’s my responsibility to tell the world about it.”

For Thénault, that advocacy started after she returned from the Beijing Olympics with a bronze medal. It was that striking contrast of green and white that propelled her into action. The more she learned, the more she understood and the more she felt compelled to do.