Michel ‘Mike’ Hamelin

As a child, Michel took skiing lessons at the Montmorency ski school in Laval. His instructor found he was a natural on moguls and encouraged him to join an acrobatic ski club. When he retired from competition in 1998, he was asked to coach the National development team but declined the offer preferring not to train his former teammates. He took a position as chief coach of the Mont Gabriel club in the Laurentians, where he worked for three years. He then applied for the position as assistant coach with the National development team and has worked with the National program ever since.

In the years he worked coaching the National development team, Mike trained Alex Bilodeau from his beginnings, developing a strong relationship with the future champion and logging many great performances at the North American level. Some years later, he coached Bilodeau privately in the four years leading up to his gold medal at the Sochi Olympics. Since Bilodeau retired in 2014, Mike has been the head coach of the women’s World Cup moguls team.