Gus Kenworthy

Augustus Richard Kenworthy (born October 1, 1991) is a British-American freestyle skier, actor, and YouTuber. He competes in slopestyle, halfpipe and big air. Kenworthy won the silver medal in Men's slopestyle at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. As of 2019, Kenworthy represents Great Britain. He was cast as Chet Clancy in the ninth season of the horror anthology series American Horror Story: 1984.

Gus Kenworthy
Kenworthy in 2018
Personal information
Birth nameAugustus Richard Kenworthy
NationalityBritish, American
Born (1991-10-01) October 1, 1991
Chelmsford, Essex, England[1]
Height175 cm (5 ft 9 in)
Weight75 kg (165 lb)
Websiteguskenworthy.com
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2007–present
Subscribers52,757
(September 2, 2019)
Total views6.3 million
(September 2, 2019)
Updated: September
Medal record
Men's freestyle skiing
Representing the  United States
Olympic Games
2014 Sochi Slopestyle
X Games
2016 Aspen Slopestyle
2016 AspenSuperpipe
2016 OsloSuperpipe
2016 OsloBig Air
2013 Tignes Slopestyle[2]
New Zealand Winter Games
2011 Cardrona Slopestyle
2011 Cardrona Halfpipe
Winter Dew Tour
2012 Breckenridge Big Air
2014 Breckenridge Slopestyle
2015 Breckenridge Slopestyle
Breckenridge 2016 Team Challenge
Breckenridge 2017 Team Challenge
Breckenridge 2018 Team Challenge
FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships
2017 Sierra NevadaSlopestyle
Representing  Great Britain
Ski World Cup
Calgary 2020 Freestyle Halfpipe
Winter Dew Tour
Copper 2020 Modified Superpipe

Early life and education

Kenworthy was born in Chelmsford, Essex, to an English mother, Heather "Pip" Tyler, and an American father, Peter Kenworthy.[3][4] He has two older brothers, Hugh and Nick Kenworthy.[5]

Kenworthy's father has been the executive director of the Mountainfilm film festival in Telluride, Colorado since 2006.[6][7] He is a former banker from Philadelphia, who worked in London (UK) for several years. Kenworthy's mother is originally from Bristol, England. She was born into a large family, with eight siblings. After moving to London in the early 1970s, she began working backstage in costumes, at the Kings Head Theatre Club. She also ran a vintage booth at the Camden Lock Market.[4] In 1993, when Gus was two years old, the family emigrated and settled in Telluride.[4]

Kenworthy graduated from Telluride High School in June 2010.[5] He could have graduated in 2009, but decided instead to take a year off to ski.[8]

Career

Kenworthy won AFP World Championships overall titles in 2011, 2012, and 2013.[9][10][11][12] In 2014, he placed second at the Olympics in Sochi, Russia and won his first medal, a bronze, at the X Games in Tignes, France in the slopestyle event.[13]

He won the World Cup Men's Halfpipe in Park City, Utah,[14] in 2015 and again in 2016 in Mammoth, California, and finished second in 2017.[15][16] He finished third in the Men's Slopestyle during the 2017 World Cup in Silvaplana, Switzerland.[17]

In 2019, Kenworthy guest starred on RuPaul's Drag Race, All Stars 4, Episode 3, "Snatch Game of Love", as one of the available bachelors. Kenworthy joined the main cast in the ninth season of FX's anthology series American Horror Story as Chet Clancy.[18]

In December 2019, Kenworthy announced he would compete for his birth nation, Great Britain.[18]

In February 2020, Kenworthy won his first gold medal as a competitor for Great Britain.[19]

Personal life

In October 2015, Kenworthy publicly came out as gay in an interview with ESPN.[20] He said in a later interview with Attitude magazine that he chose to come out on ESPN because "I wanted to do it in my words and once and for all – and hopefully help kids that are in the same position I was."[21] Rolling Stone noted the "freestyle medalist is the first action-sports star to come out."[22][23]

He was in a relationship with Robin Macdonald, who was also involved in the ski industry, working in film and photography.[24] The couple gained international media attention as a result of Macdonald texting him a photo of five stray dogs—four puppies and their mother—during their stay in Sochi, at the 2014 Winter Olympics. Kenworthy stayed behind for more than a month to save the family of dogs, and others, while he fought to bring them back home.[25][26] Their adoption of these dogs helped bring further attention to the problematic rise of the stray dog population in Sochi, which grew significantly during the Olympics.[26] The two eventually broke up after a five-year relationship.[24]

From November 2015 to July 2019, Kenworthy was in a relationship with American theatre and film actor and reality television personality Matthew Wilkas.[24][27] At the 2018 Winter Olympics, in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Wilkas kissed Kenworthy before his qualifying run in the men's slopestyle; the kiss was broadcast on live television and was lauded as being a significant moment for the visibility of LGBT athletes.[28][29]

In 2017, Kenworthy was a cast member on the MTV series The Challenge: Champs vs. Pros, which featured former competitors as well as professional athletes.[30]

In 2018, he was chosen by Fierté Montréal as one of the six grand marshals for the Pride Parade.[31]

Kenworthy announced his participation in AIDS/LifeCycle in 2019, aiming to raise $1 million to fight HIV/AIDS and joined approximately 2,000 other cyclists on a 7-day, 545-mile cycling trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Kenworthy raised a total of $249,745.[32][33]

Filmography

Television
Year Title Role Notes
2017 The Real O'Neals Himself 1 episode
2017 The Challenge: Champs vs. Pros Himself 6 episodes
2018 RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars Himself Episode: "Snatch Game of Love"
2019 American Horror Story: 1984 Chet Clancy 9 episodes
2020 Will & Grace Slutty Steve 1 episode

Films
Year Title Role Notes
2017 Sharknado 5: Global Swarming Skier
2019 Olympic Dreams Gus

See also

References
  1. "Gus Kenworthy". teamusa.org. United States Olympic Committee. Retrieved October 15, 2018.
  2. "ESPN X Games profile for Gus Kenworthy". Archived from the original on February 21, 2014. Retrieved February 14, 2014.
  3. Klingsporn, Katie (February 12, 2014). "Go, Gus!". Telluride Daily Planet. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
  4. Viebrock, Susan (February 3, 2011). "Fashion Friday: Pip on what to wear to the Fling (Interview with Pip Kenworthy)". Telluride Inside... and Out. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
  5. "Kenworthy Grabs Silver in U.S. Podium Sweep". Watch Newspapers (Western San Juan Mountains newspaper, serving Telluride). February 13, 2014. Archived from the original on February 21, 2014. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
  6. "First Ever Double Flip Off Of A Rail – Yeah Gus!". Mountainfilm Blog. July 14, 2011. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
  7. "Profile of Peter Kenworthy". Mountainfilm. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
  8. Hemphill, Steve (June 9, 2010). "Q&A Wednesday with Gus Kenworthy". Freeskier Magazine. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
  9. "Kenworthy Keeps Overall Title at AFP Worlds". US Freeskiing. Archived from the original on February 17, 2014. Retrieved February 14, 2014.
  10. Michelson, Megan. "AFP Champs: Big Air". Retrieved February 14, 2014.
  11. Hansman, Heather. "KENWORTHY, VOISIN WIN AFP SLOPESTYLE". ESPN X Games. Retrieved February 14, 2014.
  12. "US Freeskiing's profile on Gus Kenworthy". US Freeskiing. Archived from the original on February 13, 2014. Retrieved February 14, 2014.
  13. "Atomic Skis' profile on Gus Kenworthy". Retrieved February 14, 2014.
  14. "World Cup - Men's Halfpipe 28.02.2015". data.fis-ski.com. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
  15. "World Cup - Men's Halfpipe 23.01.2016". data.fis-ski.com. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
  16. "World Cup - Men's Halfpipe 04.02.2017". data.fis-ski.com. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
  17. "World Cup - Men's Slopestyle 03.03.2017". data.fis-ski.com. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
  18. Roper, Eleanor (December 3, 2019). "US Olympian Kenworthy switches to GB". Retrieved December 4, 2019.
  19. "Ski World Cup: GB's Gus Kenworthy wins freestyle gold in Calgary". BBC Sport. February 15, 2020. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
  20. Roenigk, Alyssa (October 22, 2015). "Olympic freeskier Gus Kenworthy's next bold move — coming out". ESPN. Retrieved October 25, 2015.
  21. Stroude, Will (November 12, 2015). "Gus Kenworthy talks about Sochi, first sexual experiences and becoming a gay role model". Attitude. Retrieved October 15, 2017.
  22. Browne, David. "Hot Rebel Skier Gus Kenworthy". Rolling Stone (December 2015).
  23. @guskenworthy (October 22, 2015). "Twitter". Retrieved October 22, 2015.
  24. Hicklin, Aaron (December 29, 2016). "The Love Portfolio: Gus Kenworthy + Matt Wilkas". Out.com. Retrieved October 15, 2017.
  25. Rachel Axon; Lindsay Jones. "U.S. Olympian is doing his best to adopt all the stray puppies in Sochi". USA Today. Retrieved February 14, 2014.
  26. "U.S. freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy adopting stray Sochi puppies". CBS News. Retrieved February 14, 2014.
  27. Wong, Curtis M. (July 11, 2019). "Gus Kenworthy Splits From Longtime Boyfriend Matthew Wilkas". HuffPost. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  28. Reilly, Katie (February 17, 2018). "Gus Kenworthy and His Boyfriend Kissed on TV at the Olympics and Fans Are Ecstatic". Time. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
  29. Gregory, Sean (February 18, 2018). "Gus Kenworthy's Boyfriend Matthew Wilkas on the Meaning of Their Historic Olympics Kiss". Time. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
  30. "The Challenge: Champs Vs. Pros TV Series Cast Members | MTV". MTV. Retrieved January 17, 2018.
  31. Burnett, Richard; August 9, Special to Montreal Gazette Updated; 2018 (August 9, 2018). "Montreal Pride shows its true colours | Montreal Gazette". Retrieved January 24, 2020.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  32. "Gus Kenworthy". www.facebook.com.
  33. "ALC2019: Gus Kenworthy - AIDS/LifeCycle". www.tofighthiv.org.
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