Olympic champion Kingsbury calls for urgent action to allow sport in Quebec schools

Quebec mogul king Mikaël Kingsbury is calling for the return of sport in schools.

In an open letter on Wednesday to Quebec Premier François Legault, the reigning Olympic and world moguls champion says urgent action is needed amid the COVID-19 restrictions.

"I am worried about the situation of young athletes," wrote the 28-year-old freestyle skiing star. "The health of thousands of young people is at risk."

Inspired in part by his own experiences growing up, Kingsbury is lending his voice to the efforts of a 16-year-old high school student, Isaac Pépin, who has been urging the provincial government to show flexibility in its approach to sport in schools.

WATCH | Kingsbury writes open letter to Quebec Premier François Legault:

Kingsbury told CBC Sports in an exclusive interview on Thursday that the plea is something he understands all too well.

"Having grown up skiing and playing baseball with my friends, sport is a motivator. A source of meaning," he said, adding that sport was a big part of what helped keep him coming back to class.

For the 28-year-old native of Deux-Montagnes, Que., it's also a question of mental as well as physical health.

"I am worried that young people are lost. That they are abandoning sport in favour of screens," Kingsbury wrote in his letter to Legault.

This is why Kingsbury supports Pépin's calls for the resumption of supervised sport.

'I got dizzy'

"I stopped this week and wondered what I would do if I was this young man deprived of sport for a year in a period of a pandemic," Kingsbury wrote.

"I got dizzy! I wouldn't have had the capacity to survive a full year without my passion. I tell you very simply: I would be adrift. I am convinced that sports clubs, sports organizations and federations have the capacities, the means, but above all the determination necessary to protect young people and their families. Before, during and after sports practice."

And Kingsbury feels the time to act is now.

"It's been a year where people across Canada, but especially in Quebec, have not been able to play collective sports," he told CBC Sports. "It's like a year the kids are losing and will never get back again."

WATCH | Kingsbury reflects on consecutive World Cup victories:

Legault said he understands the frustration, but also the importance of sport on mental health during a COVID-19 update on Wednesday.

"People who know me know that I do a lot of sports," Legault said. "Sports is important. There's nothing better to decrease stress levels, and it's important for mental heath. But we all agree that certain sports, at the very least, we might get too close and bring about contagion."

While discussions with sports federations are still ongoing, Legault will offer more of an update next week and acknowledged that "as of March 15th, everywhere in Quebec will be able to start outside school activities."

Meanwhile, Kingsbury — who only recently returned to action in February after fracturing his T4 and T5 vertebrate in November prior to the opening of the freestyle ski season — is in Kazakhstan gearing up for freestyle skiing world championships in Almaty.

He says the passion that Pépin and fellow organizers have exhibited for sport has given him extra motivation to win.

"[They] are only asking for one thing: to breathe new life into young people by allowing them to reconnect with their passion."

Kingsbury won't be able to stand with protestors at a planned rally in front of the provincial parliament on Sunday, but remains hopeful activities will open up when he returns to his home province.

"On behalf of all athletes in Quebec, amateurs and professionals, I hope that when I return home in mid-March, sport will find its rightful place."