Grete Eliassen
Freeskier
Born in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, Grete Eliassen is the daughter of a Midwestern mother and Norwegian father, and grew up speaking both English and Norwegian. Even though Minnesota is known for its Nordic flats, Grete took to alpine skiing at the tender age of two. Not one to stay still for long, Grete also participated in hockey, soccer, basketball, tennis, waterskiing, little-league baseball and of course, cross-country skiing growing up.
As a teen, Grete was selected to join the Norwegian Ski Team and at 16, she won the Junior II Super-G event at the Junior World Championships in France, and placed third in Slalom at the European Junior Olympics in Slovenia. In spite of her succes in alpine skiing, she soon found her love of freeskiing. Since her switch, Grete has won the U.S. Open four times, as well as two gold, one silver, and one bronze medals at the Winter X Games. In fact, Grete is the only female skier to have medaled in both the first Halfpipe and the first Slopestyle X Games events.
In 2010, Grete won the coveted Hip Jump World Record. She reached speeds of 60 miles an hour downhill, hit the custom 30-foot “hip” feature, and soared more than 31 feet in the air. Grete has also been named Powder Magazine’s Female Skier of the Year and IF3 Female Skier of the Year for her movie, Say My Name.
In May of 2013, she graduated from the University of Utah with a B.S. in Business Management. In 2014, she became the first freeskier (male of female) to be featured in Vogue. Grete now resides in Park City, Utah with her husband, Josh. There, she is constantly striving to make her mark on the sport of freeskiing.