Christopher Del Bosco (born March 30, 1982), is an American-born,

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

freestyle skier Freestyle skiing is a skiing discipline comprising aerials, moguls, cross, half-pipe, slopestyle and big air as part of the Winter Olympics. It can consist of a skier performing aerial flips and spins and can include skiers sliding rails and ...

who currently resides in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada. Del Bosco is a member of the Canadian national

ski cross Ski cross is a skiing competition which incorporates terrain features traditionally found in freestyle skiing with courses which include big-air jumps and high-banked turns. In spite of the fact that it is a timed racing event, it is often con ...

team. He is the reigning FIS World Champion and X Games champion in ski cross and has four other medals from the X Games including one gold, one silver, and two bronze. Del Bosco was a United States national champion prior to switching to the Canadian team.

Career

Del Bosco was born in

Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 census, a 15.02% increase since 2010. Colorado Springs is the second-most populous c ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

but was raised in

Vail Vail is a home rule municipality in Eagle County, Colorado, United States. The population of the town was 4,835 in 2020. Home to Vail Ski Resort, the largest ski mountain in Colorado, the town is known for its hotels, dining, and for the nume ...

, Colorado. Prior to joining the Canadian freestyle ski team, he had problems with substance and alcohol abuse that had led to him being stripped of two US national titles, and at age 21 was discovered drunk in a ditch with a broken neck. His sister, Heather, convinced him to go into rehab. This saved him from going to jail for another year. After this he received an offer from the Canadian ski team who had heard about Del Bosco and his Canadian passport, as Del Bosco's father was Canadian. Del Bosco was offered a spot on the team despite the character risks he carried with him and Del Bosco then agreed to join the Canadians. He went on from there and built on his success with the Canadian ski team. In 2006 at the Winter X-Games he won a bronze medal in the ski-cross event. During the 2009–10 Freestyle Skiing World Cup he won two world cup events, one on the

Alpe d'Huez L'Alpe d'Huez () is a ski resort in Southeastern France at . It is a mountain pasture in the central French Western Alps, in the Communes of France, commune of Huez, which is part of the Isère Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-R ...

and in Lake Placid. Del Bosco ended the season second overall on the World Cup rankings. At the 2010 Winter X Games Del Bosco attended as a warm up to the Olympics. There he won gold in the ski cross final, leading a Canadian sweep of the medals with Dave Duncan and Brady Leman. This was the first time that the medals have been swept in a round other than by US athletes. Del Bosco was a member of the Canadian team going to the

2010 Winter Olympics The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...

in Vancouver. He made the men's ski cross final, and was in strong position to win a bronze medal, but fell shortly before the finish line while trying to make a pass. After the race at a press conference Del Bosco had said that "Third, I guess it's all right for some people, but I wanted to give 100% for my sport, my country." After his disappointing Olympics Del Bosco had surgery in May 2010. During the next season he achieved success at the

Winter X Games Winter is the coldest and darkest season of the year in temperate and polar climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Diffe ...

when he won the silver medal in ski cross. Del Bosco then went on to the 2011 World Championships where he won his first World Championship. Del Bosco said of his victory that "This is a really special title to have, you only get the chance once every two years. I had some tough luck at the last world championships in Japan and then (last year's) Olympics, I was fourth in both of those events. I was kind of starting to wonder about these big events and I guess the third time is the charm. I managed to get it done this time." The next season brought a continued gold rush for Del Bosco, with his third gold medal at a major competition in as many years. He went on to win the gold at the XVI Winter X Games finishing in first while teammate Duncan finished in third. Del Bosco was proud of his victory despite a world cup season with limited success, "It's amazing, this is my favourite event," said Del Bosco in a statement. "I have had an up and down season and this one was the big one on my list. So to come in and grab gold is pretty special."

Personal life

Del Bosco moved to

in the spring of 2011. He also started competing in a second sport, downhill mountain biking. Del Bosco began drinking alcohol and smoking

marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...

regularly as a teenager. In December 2004, he blacked out in a creek bed after a drinking binge, breaking his neck. He survived because a stranger happened to see him. Del Bosco quit drinking in September 2006.

References

External links

National Team Profile
* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Del Bosco, Christopher American expatriate sportspeople in Canada Canadian male freestyle skiers Freestyle skiers at the 2010 Winter Olympics Freestyle skiers at the 2014 Winter Olympics Freestyle skiers at the 2018 Winter Olympics Olympic freestyle skiers for Canada 1982 births Living people American male freestyle skiers Sportspeople from Colorado Springs, Colorado American emigrants to Canada American people of Canadian descent X Games competitors Skiers from Montreal Anglophone Quebec people 21st-century American sportsmen 21st-century Canadian sportsmen