Elite Athlete Spotlight: Emily Campbell

As part of MMCF’s Elite Athlete Spotlight Series, I’ve been spending time skiing laps and riding chairlifts with some of the incredible athletes supported through our Elite Athlete Grant program. This week, I met up with 16-year-old freeskier Emily Campbell for a few spring park laps at Mammoth Mountain.

At this point in the season, Mammoth has entered full spring mode. The snow is soft, sticky, and rapidly disappearing under warm bluebird afternoons, leaving behind slushy park landings and tired legs by lunchtime. Thankfully, those slower conditions were probably the only reason I stood even a slight chance of keeping up with Emily for the afternoon.

From the moment we met at Chair 1, Emily brought an easygoing energy that immediately made the interview feel less formal and more like skiing with a friend. Effortlessly cool but incredibly friendly, she carried herself with the relaxed confidence of someone completely at home on snow. After spending a few chairlift rides talking with her, it became obvious that beneath that laid-back personality is an athlete competing at an incredibly high level.

Emily primarily competes in halfpipe skiing, while also spending time in slopestyle and park riding. Earlier in her career, she narrowly missed qualifying for the Olympics and finished fifth overall in women’s skiing standings — accomplishments that still barely seem real to say out loud while casually riding laps through spring slush in Mammoth.

Looking back on your season, what are you most proud of?

For Emily, this season was all about progression and pushing herself outside her comfort zone.

“I feel like I pushed myself more this year,” she explained. “Learning new tricks that I maybe wouldn’t have tried before.”

A major focus this season was continuing to progress her tricks in the halfpipe, including taking tricks higher out of the pipe and working on switch sevens.

One of the biggest highlights came after recovering from a back injury sustained during a fall earlier in the season. Despite the setback, Emily returned to competition and earned a third-place finish at Rev Tour.

“That was really nice,” she said. “Coming back and competing well after getting hurt.”

What were some of the biggest challenges this season?

While injuries presented obvious physical challenges, Emily spoke honestly about the mental side of competing at a high level — something she feels people often overlook.

“I don’t think people talk about the mental game enough,” she said. “There’s fatigue, burnout, coming back from injuries… there’s a lot that comes with it.”

Emily has torn both ACLs in the past, and she admitted that overcoming the mental side of injury recovery can sometimes be just as difficult as the physical rehab itself.

“Obviously we signed up for it,” she said, “but it can definitely be a lot.”

It was one of the more honest and thoughtful answers I’ve heard during these interviews, and a reminder that behind all the highlight clips and competition results are still teenagers balancing immense pressure, expectations, travel, and training.

How did the MMCF Elite Athlete Grant support your season?

For Emily, the MMCF Elite Athlete Grant helped offset the significant travel costs that come with competing internationally.

This season included trips to Canada and Colorado, where she competed and trained at venues like Aspen and Copper Mountain.

“Skiing is expensive,” she laughed. “The grant definitely helped with trips.”

Without that additional support, traveling to high-level events and training camps would have been much more difficult financially.

What does a typical training day look like for you?

Emily’s training schedule is intense, even by elite athlete standards.

A typical day includes morning workouts, skiing until early afternoon, trampoline training or dryland work afterward, and then another workout session before finally crashing at the end of the day.

“I’m exhausted by the end of it,” she admitted. “I usually just watch a movie and go to sleep.”

During the season, Emily balances skiing through Mammoth’s flex program, attending school in person on Fridays to maintain some connection with classmates and normal high school life.

“My favorite part about school is honestly just getting to interact with my peers,” she said. “Because I’m usually skiing all the time.”

Who has been the biggest influence on your season?

Emily immediately pointed to professional freeskier Zoe Atkin as one of her biggest inspirations.

“She’s really nice and I just look up to her a lot,” Emily said.

The two have actually competed together at World Cup events, an experience Emily described as incredibly motivating.

“That opened my eyes,” she explained. “I realized I really want to keep doing this.”

When it came to support systems closer to home, Emily credited her mom as her biggest supporter throughout the season.

“She’s definitely my number one supporter.”

What’s next for you?

Looking ahead, Emily’s goals remain ambitious.

She hopes to continue improving her rankings, keep progressing new tricks, and eventually land a 900º — something she’s already been working on into airbags both at Mammoth and during upcoming summer camps in Oregon.

Emily is also preparing for an upcoming trip to New Zealand, where she’ll compete internationally for the first time at an ANC Cup event.

“I’m really excited,” she said. “That just sounds really fun to me.”

Long term, the Olympic dream is still very much alive.

“Two Olympics for sure,” she said confidently.

Honestly, after spending an afternoon skiing with her, it didn’t sound unrealistic at all.

Speed Round ⚡

Favorite Run at Mammoth:

Main Park

Go-To Hype Song:

“Starships” by Nicki Minaj

First Chair or Last Chair?

Last chair

Dream Place to Ski or Compete:

Laax, Switzerland

One Word to Describe the Season:

Amazing

Spending the afternoon skiing with Emily was an absolute blast. She brought such an easy, positive energy to the interview that it almost stopped feeling like work entirely. Even while casually lapping the park in sticky spring snow, it was obvious how talented and driven she is — but what stood out even more was how grounded and self-aware she seemed while talking about the realities of competing at such a high level.

One thing these interviews keep reminding me is how much goes on behind the scenes for these athletes. The travel, training, injuries, pressure, burnout, balancing school and friendships — it’s a lot, especially at such a young age. And yet somehow they continue showing up every day with passion and determination.

Huge thanks to Emily for taking a few laps with me, letting me attempt to film park clips without completely eating it, and reminding me once again that Mammoth’s next generation of athletes is unbelievably impressive. I can’t wait to keep cheering her on in the years ahead.