Jack Gower

snowsports

Gender

Male

Discipline

Alpine Skiing

Date Of Birth

May 26, 1994

Hometown

Chichester

BIOGRAPHY

JACK Gower’s dad Richard had no idea what he let himself in for when his son called him at the start of the 2020-2021 ski season to ask for some help.

Covid had made life difficult on the international circuit where teams were tightly constrained to their own bubble and Jack’s arrangement to join a training group had suddenly fallen through.

“I asked him to come out just to help me one weekend, but it ended up being a whole year.

Gower (27), who switched from GB to represent Ireland last summer, won the world junior title at giant slalom when he was only 16.

Representing Ireland has provided him the free agency to find a new coach and training group ahead of Olympic qualification and he is delighted with his new set-up.

He has been reunited with his former coach, Canadian Christian Hillier who helped him win that World Junior title in Crans Montana a decade ago.

“We are training with the Swiss Ski Team (second tier) and being able to do that is one of the brilliant things about being Irish.”

Home is Chichester, on England’s south coast but Gower’s late grandmother  (her maiden name was Swayne) was born in Dublin and raised in Skibbereen  where she met his grandfather.

“He was visiting Cork with the British Navy and when they married they got posted to Chile. That’s where my dad was born but he and all my uncles and aunts spent their summers in Skibbereen.”

His sporty family includes David Gower, the legendary British cricket player and commentator. “He’s my dad’s first cousin but we’ve always called him ‘Uncle David.’”

He has been ranked as high as 38th in the world Super-G rankings and has won prestigious titles like the US Nationals and the 2017 South American Cup which he likens to the equivalent of Formula Two “because all the top World Cup skiers use it for pre-season training.”

“I love the freedom of going fast, I love competing and we do it in incredibly beautiful places all around the world. I also love thinking about how I can improve. It’s a lot of fun.”

OTHER SNOWSPORTS ATHLETES

Thomas Maloney Westgaard

Thomas Maloney WestgaardSNOWSPORTS BIOGRAPHY IRISH cross-country skier Thomas Maloney Westgaard admits that, in some ways, his life has been unaffected by the global pandemic. “As an endurance athlete you’re nearly always paranoid about your health. If you’re in good shape but get a cold in this game it will take weeks before you’re back on …

Thomas Maloney Westgaard Read More »

Tess Arbez

Tess Arbezsnowsports BIOGRAPHY What’s seldom is wonderful as Tess Arbez found out in 2020 when she took a year out of competitive skiing to concentrate on her biomedical studies in Geneva. The talented 24-year-old French-Irish skier was only 20 when she made her Olympic debut in PyeongChang in 2018. She had put her law studies …

Tess Arbez Read More »

Seamus O’Connor

Seamus O'Connorsnowsports BIOGRAPHY SEAMUS O’Connor may only be 24 but the halfpipe snowboarder is already a two-time Olympian and the eminence gris of Irish snow sports. Raised in California, with paternal grandparents from Drogheda and Dublin, he made history in Sochi eight years ago when he wasn’t just Ireland’s first Olympic snowboarder but also, aged …

Seamus O’Connor Read More »

Brendan Newby

Brendan NewbySnowsports BIOGRAPHY A SPECIAL childhood memory and the introduction of his sport into the Winter Olympics meant Brendan ‘Bubba’ Newby (25) achieved his childhood dream in PyeongChang  four years ago. “My dad took me to a couple of the events at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City and since then I always wanted …

Brendan Newby Read More »

SNOWSPORTS NEWS

RECIPIENTS OF OFI MAKE A DIFFERENCE FUND

ADDITIONAL FUNDS ADDED WITH €115,000 DISTRIBUTED ACROSS 16 SPORTS Following an overwhelming response in applications to the Make a Difference athlete fund that was announced by the OFI Athletes’ Commission earlier this year, the Olympic Federation of Ireland has channelled an additional €50,000 directly to athletes. Athletes across sixteen sports were awarded a total amount …

RECIPIENTS OF OFI MAKE A DIFFERENCE FUND Read More »

STRONG SUPER-G SHOWING ROUNDS OUT THE IRISH EYOF CAMPAIGN

YOUTH MULTI-SPORT EVENT COMES TO A CLOSE Team Ireland’s Ethan Bouchard and Eábha McKenna completed their final event on the European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) schedule yesterday, competing well in the Super-G. Both competitions took place on Monte Lussari, just outside Tarvisio, on the same piste as the other Alpine races earlier this week. The …

STRONG SUPER-G SHOWING ROUNDS OUT THE IRISH EYOF CAMPAIGN Read More »

AGGRESSIVE RACING FROM BOUCHARD ON A DEMANDING COURSE

27 January 2023 Aggressive racing from Team Ireland’s Ethan Bouchard fell short, with a crash in the final gates of the second run in the demanding Giant Slalom (GS) course. The seventeen-year-old Alpine Skier was representing West Cork today at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Friuli Venezia Giulia, in Italy. Similar to yesterday’s Girl’s GS, …

AGGRESSIVE RACING FROM BOUCHARD ON A DEMANDING COURSE Read More »

PERSONAL BEST PERFORMANCE FOR MCKENNA AT EYOF 

WICKLOW SKIER RISES TO OCCASION IN ITALY  Team Ireland’s Eábha McKenna returned to the slopes in Tarvisio, Italy to compete in the Girl’s Giant Slalom (GS) event today at the European Youth Olympic Festival. The Wicklow teenager was competing in the Girl’s Giant Slalom where she finished 42nd with a time of 3:02.79. The sixteen-year-old …

PERSONAL BEST PERFORMANCE FOR MCKENNA AT EYOF  Read More »

WICKLOW’S MCKENNA STEPS UP IN FIRST MAJOR COMPETITION

PROGRESSIVE RACING FROM PATHWAY ATHLETE AT EYOF IN ITALY 25 January 2023 Despite being one of the youngest athletes competing in Alpine Skiing at the European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF), Wicklow’s Eábha McKenna stepped up in her first major competition, finishing 38th out of 88 starters in the Girl’s Slalom with 1:46.58. The Olympic Federation of Ireland …

WICKLOW’S MCKENNA STEPS UP IN FIRST MAJOR COMPETITION Read More »

THE POWER OF ‘T’ IN TEAM IRELAND | 3 TIME OLYMPIAN SEAMUS O’CONNOR

“It was freezing, the wind was out. There was snot coming out of his nose but it was frozen! He was like someone who had come out of battle and he absolutely had, just sensational.”  Three-time Olympic snowboarder, Seamus O’Connor, has played an integral role in Team Ireland’s Olympic Games, the only Irish athlete to …

THE POWER OF ‘T’ IN TEAM IRELAND | 3 TIME OLYMPIAN SEAMUS O’CONNOR Read More »

Scroll to Top