Vernon residents Kevin Hill (left) in snowboard cross and Emma Lunder in biathlon are both making return trips to the Winter Olympics. (Hill photo courtesy of CanadaSnowboard.ca; Lunder from Instagram)

By Pete McIntyre

GoFundMe started

Vernon will have three athletes in Winter Olympics, one facing cost crunch

Jan 26, 2022 | 11:15 AM

Vernon will be well represented by athletes representing Canada at the 2022 Winter Olympics in China.

In addition to freestyle skier Elena Gaskell, who was featured on Vernon Matters earlier this week, two other Vernon residents will be Beijing-bound.

Kevin Hill will be competing in snowboard cross for the third straight Winter Olympics. The 35-year-old placed 8th in the event in 2014 in Sochi, Russia and 14th in 2018 in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

A GoFundMe is helping to support Hill with some of his costs of going to Beijing

“After learning that Kevin has already paid out of pocket over $11,000 and counting in travel fees to compete for Canada at the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing for 2022, we wanted to find a way to help support him,” said the fundraiser started by Jacs Spence of Vernon. “These games are financially trying as Covid has increased the cost for our athletes, taking regular Covid tests that cost Kevin out of pocket each time he gets tested (which is a lot).”