WSP Canada Announces Partnership With Canadian Freestyle Skier And Olympic Medalist Marion Thenault,

WSP Canada (WSP), one of the world’s leading professional services firms, has announced an unique partnership with Canadian freestyle skier and olympic medalist Marion Thenault, one focused on supporting her dreams of returning to the Olympics in 2026, becoming an engineer and being one of Canada’s first carbon-neutral athletes.

Thenault is an emerging star in freestyle skiing, and was a member of the 2022 Canadian Olympic team in Beijing, where she won bronze as a member of the mixed aerials team. In 2020-21, she won the FIS Freestyle Rookie of the Year. She has been a member of the national team since 2018.

Marion started gymnastics when she was three years old and developed a strong passion for sports and acrobatics. She evolved as a gymnast for 14 years and in trampoline for three years.

At 17 years old, Marion participated in an RBC Training Ground event in her hometown of Sherbrooke, Québec. A freestyle skiing coach invited her to try aerials at the water ramps where she quickly fell in love with the sport, realizing she belonged on skis. From that moment on, Marion worked hard to improve her skiing and new acrobatic techniques.

Marion has been an aerial skier since 2017 and was invited to join the national team in 2020. Aerial skiing allowed her to grow as an athlete and as a person by living incredible experiences. After winning Canadian Championships in her first year competing, winning the NorAm Tour in her second year and winning a World Cup in her 3rd year, she can’t wait for what’s to come.

Currently studying to become an aerospace engineer at Montreal’s Concordia University, Thenault will work alongside members of WSP Canada’s Earth and Environment team to determine the carbon footprint of her freestyle skiing activities as she travels around the world to events on the World Cup circuit.

WSP’s climate change experts will quantify the emissions associated with her activities, look for ways to reduce this footprint, and find solutions to offset her actions. WSP wants to support Marion in developing a plan to reduce the emissions generated in her journey to the 2026 Winter Olympic Winter Games in Milan. As part of this process, Thenault will develop a better understanding of the environmental cost of athletic competition and the financial cost of offsetting the emissions generated during her Olympic pursuit.

“This partnership with Marion demonstrates the extent of WSP's expertise and our ability to innovate. It is a unique opportunity to support a young woman in the development of her career, both as an athlete and as an engineer.” declared Marie-Claude Dumas, President and CEO of WSP Canada.

“Working with Marion, we’ll be able to deliver practical solutions for offsetting the emissions that come with being a high-performance athlete travelling the world for competitions,” explained Geneviève Brin, Director, Climate Change, Resilience and Sustainability, WSP Canada. “We hope that what she learns in becoming a carbon neutral athlete will be information that she can share with, and be adopted by, Olympic competitors around the world.” said Olivier Joyal, Executive Vice President, Strategy and Execution, Earth and Environment, WSP Canada.

“I am very excited to work with WSP to try and become one of Canada’s first carbon-neutral Olympian,” said Thenault. “Travelling around the world comes with an environmental impact, one that we need to reduce to minimize the impact of climate change. Hopefully the research we are doing will help athletes around the world take action to reduce their carbon footprint.”

Over the next four years, both WSP and Thenault will provide updates on the journey to carbon neutrality on their respective social media channels.