From Olympic dream to wild ice healing: How Elladj Baldé rebuilt himself beyond competition

For most elite athletes, the dream is simple and absolute: make the Olympics. Stand on the biggest stage. Prove you were worthy of the sacrifice.

For Elladj Balde, that dream became something else entirely.

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“My entire identity was wrapped around the idea that I was going to be an Olympic champion,” Baldé tells Gent’s Post. “So when I realized that maybe that wasn’t my path, I fell into the darkest place of my life.”

It wasn’t just about missing a team.

It was about losing himself.

See more: Canadian outerwear brand keeping NHL team warm on families skate day.

When your identity disappears

Baldé grew up inside a system that rewards perfection, conformity, and results. The more he followed the rules, the more success he saw. But the further he drifted from who he actually was.

“I suppressed a lot of myself in order to conform, because conforming brought results,” he says.

When those results stopped aligning with his ultimate goal, the questions became unavoidable.

“If I’m not going to be an Olympian… then who am I?”

It’s a question many men quietly carry, whether they’re athletes, entrepreneurs, or creatives:

If I remove the title, the status, the outcome — what’s left?

For Baldé, answering that meant dismantling everything he thought defined him.

“I had to find validation in something deeper than external achievement,” he says. “Something rooted in who I am, not what I accomplish.”

Letting go of the podium

The shift didn’t happen overnight.

Baldé describes a long process of challenging the belief that success must look a certain way.

“As long as success isn’t rooted in any external achievement, I’m happy,” he says. “Living with integrity. Moving from the heart, not the ego. Showing up vulnerable and authentic. That’s success to me now.”

It’s a definition built on internal alignment rather than public validation.

And it opened the door to something unexpected.

The moment everything changed

Baldé’s first experience skating on wild ice — frozen lakes formed by nature rather than maintained rinks — fundamentally altered his relationship with skating.

“Skating on ice formed by Mother Nature is a whole other experience,” he says. “If you allow it, it will change you.”

Where competition once felt heavy, wild ice felt light.

Free.

“There’s a level of freedom I can access now that I had never accessed before,” Baldé says. “Freedom is an important factor in healing anything. It started to heal my relationship with skating in a fundamental way.”

No judges.

No scores.

No expectations.

Just movement.

Channeling pain into purpose

What started as personal healing quietly became something bigger.

Baldé began sharing short clips of himself skating on wild ice. No grand strategy. No content plan. Just honesty.

One early video — a backflip followed by a crip walk — went viral.

“I could see people connecting with skating in a way I’d never seen before,” he says. “I touched so many different communities.”

For the first time, Baldé realized his journey wasn’t only his.

It was resonating with people who felt unseen, boxed in, or told they didn’t belong.

“I felt a sense of responsibility right away,” he says. “Not in a heavy way — but in an honest way.”

Reinvention, not replacement

Baldé is clear: wild ice didn’t replace competitive skating.

It redefined it.

Instead of chasing a version of himself that no longer fit, he leaned into the parts he had once muted — creativity, musicality, cultural expression, emotional range.

“That wave of energy started bubbling up about finding authenticity and using skating as a vehicle for self-expression,” he says.

What emerged wasn’t a new persona.

It was a return to self.

The discipline behind the freedom

While Baldé’s wild ice videos feel effortless, the reality is anything but.

He works closely with Paul Zizka, a Banff-based mountaineer and adventure photographer who scouts locations, assesses ice conditions, and builds safety protocols before Baldé ever steps onto a lake.

“I would never do this alone,” Baldé says. “The only reason I’ve never had a sketchy moment is because I have someone like Paul.”

Their approach is conservative, methodical, and rooted in respect for nature.

“If there’s anything remotely close to high consequence, we don’t take chances,” Baldé says. “Life is too precious.”

The discipline mirrors Baldé’s inner transformation: freedom supported by structure.

Capturing it with Apple

Baldé and Zizka’s latest wild ice project was captured in collaboration with Apple, shot on iPhone 17 Pro in extreme winter conditions.

For Baldé, the appeal goes beyond specs.

“I’ve always loved Apple’s creativity and innovation,” he says. “Being able to do what I already do, but with Apple, felt like the perfect fit.”

The phone’s stability, multiple zoom ranges, slow-motion capabilities, and dual capture mode allow Baldé to film himself and the environment simultaneously — without bulky rigs or heavy gear.

“I don’t do any post work,” he says. “I upload the video, add music, and post it.”

The simplicity keeps the process honest.

Just like the journey.

A new definition of winning

Ask Baldé what his dream life looks like now, and his answer is quietly powerful.

“I’m here,” he says. “Everyone I love is healthy. I have abundance with work. I’m excited about what I’m building. I’m living the life I always dreamed of — even if it doesn’t look how I once imagined.”

It’s a reminder that sometimes the dream doesn’t die.

It evolves.

What’s next?

Baldé hints at new creative projects centered around skating in natural environments, though details remain under wraps.

One thing is certain: his story is far from finished.

And we can’t wait to have Elladj in studio for a future episode of Gent’s Talk following the Olympics, to go even deeper into the journey.

Because the most powerful part of Baldé’s evolution isn’t that he found wild ice.

It’s that he found himself.