Cariboo freestyle skier Seamus Zirnhelt appears to be as comfortable on two skies at 14 years old as most people are on two legs.
Seamus might only be 14, but the young skier is already competing at a national level in freestyle skiing –you know the stuff, massive jumps, inverted airs, sliding rails and boxes – landing big tricks with big risks.
April 3 through April 6, Freestyle Whistler and Freestyle Canada hosted the Canadian FIS National Championships at Whistler, and Seamus was there, competing in slopestyle and big air. The competition is sanctioned by the International Ski Federation (FIS) which is recognized by the International Olympic Committee.
Slopestyle is judged over three jumps and three rails (metal rail obstacles the skiers slide, tap or jump on) and big air is one large jump. Skiers are assigned points for the difficulty of the tricks they perform and the style and execution of the trick, with judges evaluating things such as how high the skier jumps, their form in the air and how clean the landing is.
Seamus was invited to the competition after finishing third overall at the 2025 Freeski Junior Nationals in Calgary, Alta. at the Olympic Park for U16 male skiers.
A person might wonder how a young man living in Beaver Valley, far from the peak of the competitive freestyle ski scene, got to this point, but it makes sense when you find out he started skiing at two years old and lived in Canmore until his family moved to the Cariboo when he was eight.
"I've always been skiing," said Seamus.
After one winter spent in Whitehorse, where Seamus said there was a good terrain park and he learned some beginner tricks, he has been getting as much time on skis and in the air as possible.
This past winter, after his first semester of school, his dad Robin Zirnhelt and he moved into a place in Squamish so Seamus could train in Whistler. He has been doing online schooling and spending as much time as possible on snow in Whistler.
The national competition took place in the same terrain park he has been training through the winter, with some new rails added in.
Seamus said he's currently working on lots of corks and double-corks. A "cork" is a flip with a spin in it, so going upside down while also spinning around. His hardest trick to date is a switch dub 10, which means he skis into the jump backwards (called switch), hits the jump and does a 180 to a double back flip to another 180 (a 180 being a 180-degree turn).
At the junior nationals, Seamus competed in half pipe, slopestyle and big air in the U16 category, which included about 35 competitors. The male U16 is the largest category and only top athletes are invited to attend.
"I still landed a pretty good run," said Seamus of his performance, noting he missed a rail trick he had wanted to include. However, he said he was happy he landed a big air trick he'd crashed in training runs.
This performance set him up well to get an invitation to the senior nationals in Whistler, which saw Seamus place 22nd overall in slopestyle and make the finals in big air, finishing fourth in his heat for that event. When rain and poor visibility lead to the cancellation of the finals, he ended up 15th overall.
"Seamus did just fantastic," said his mom, Shannon O'Donovan-Zirnhelt, noting he was the only 14 year-old to make the finals. O'Donovan-Zirnhelt was with Seamus in Whistler, and has been there along the way, supporting him and filming his runs for him and volunteering at competitions.
"Last year I loved every minute of it and I was learning it, and it wasn't as scary, but this year, most of the time I close my eyes just as he's taking off of the jump," she said, then opening them once she knows he landed safely.
"I realize it's getting scarier for me," she said, but adding she has a lot of faith in his skills. She called him "calculated in his ability and his headspace."
"It's definitely a head game, this is not the kind of sport you take lightly," she said.
"I can kind of just tell when I can see the trick landing or not in my head," said Seamus, who said if he can't see it or he's tired, he just tells himself "I'll do it tomorrow."
The nationals in Whistler was the last competition of the season for Seamus, and while his mom said she thought he should be coming home, Seamus wasn't so sure.
He said it is the best time of the year for the park.
When he is at home in Beaver Valley, Seamus keeps up his aerial skills by practicing on the family's trampoline, which his mom Shannon O'Donovan-Zirnhelt calls "the best thing we ever bought as parents."
