When Gage LeBlanc tries something new, the 15-year-old goes big.

The first time LeBlanc tried freestyle skiing, for example, he wasn’t content with just skiing the bumps. He had to hit the biggest jump on the training course. 

Luckily there was an air bag.

“I’d never caught that big of air before,” he said.

A few months later, having gotten the hang of basic aerials, LeBlanc was on the water ramps practice facility, in Grande Prairie. He was staring down the ramp, preparing for his first ever inverted air.

Again, dude went huge. But…

“I landed flat on my stomach, wearing a lifejacket,” he said. “It hurt for a while.”

Next, LeBlanc took his inverted airs to snow. But before they can try them in competition, freestyle skiers have to qualify their tricks—they have to prove, to a certified CFSA coach, they can do it safely. 

It took him 177 times , but eventually LeBlanc qualified to do a backflip. (p.s. now he can do cork 1080s).

If you read the August 15, 2014 Jasper Local, you would know that Gage’s dad, Chris LeBlanc, completed the 125 km Death Race, in Grande Cache, after literally zero experience running races more than 10 km long.

That movie never got made, but the younger, (taller) LeBlanc’s dogged determination will soon be on display for audiences across Canada. On January 6, LeBlanc will be one of 10 young athletes vying for the title of All-Round Champion, a reality competition series being aired on TVOntario.

“It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” Gage said. 

Part of the challenge was being away from home. The series took 10 weeks to film, pulling LeBlanc away from Jasper and his freestyle skiing training. 

But he had plenty of distractions, not least of which was getting to know his fellow competitors and housemates. The participants were housed in a pretty sweet Toronto mansion, out of which they’d travel to film long days in the field. The format of the show has the diverse group of athletes competing not in their own sports, but each other’s. 

“Their athleticism will be put to the ultimate test,” the trailer for All-Round Champion teases.

While LeBlanc had to be mum on the details of the competition before it goes to air, he could share that the most difficult sport for him to learn was figure skating.

“It was the hardest, most awkward sport I’ve ever done,” he said.

It’s not like LeBlanc can’t skate. He was in Minor Hockey as a youngster. In fact, it was a tough decision for him to give up hockey to focus on skiing. But figure skating was next level, he said. The skates themselves were hard to get used to­—the blades aren’t rounded like hockey skates and more than once he toe-picked, going axle over teakettle. 

“You’re not wearing pads, it’s just straight to the ice,” he said.

But true to his nature, LeBlanc stuck it out. Spoiler alert, he even learned to waltz!

Nearly as hard as learning his competitors’ sports—which also included cross-country skiing, luge and curling—was having enough energy to film. All-Round Champion is a reality-TV series, but the crew would often require multiple takes of certain scenes. To LeBlanc, who remember did 177 backflips, it was exhausting.

“By the end of the 10 weeks I was so tired,” he laughed.

Viewers probably won’t notice. But they will find out if, by the end of the 11 episode series, LeBlanc will take the crown of All-Round Champion. Regardless of how he places, he says he owes a huge thanks to his family, his coaches and his managers at Jasper Source For Sports. 

“All my friends and family, and my parents’ friends, have been awesome,” he (and not his mom) said.

All-Round Champion debuts on TVO on January 6. 

Bob Covey // bob@thejasperlocal.com