Yeah, life's good. Just busy trucking away here in Wānaka, getting prepared for the Olympics, trying to train as much as possible and just, yeah, be as fit and healthy for the Games as I can.
Only five months to go. Does that feel weird?
It does. It feels like it's gone by real fast. It's very exciting at the same time.
How close were you to competing in Beijing four years ago?
Honestly, not too close So, yeah, it has definitely been a big push for me for this year.
Your older brother, Ben, competed at the 2022 Winter Olympics. What's he told you about the Olympic experience?
To be fair, his Olympic experience was a bit different to most. Just considering the whole Covid situation, no family there, and they kind of paid people to be standing there in the crowd . Things are definitely going to be quite a bit different for me. But he's definitely inspired me a lot and he said he loved the experience. I can't wait to hopefully join him there this year.
And what about seeing Nico Porteous and Zoi Sadowski-Synnott charging to gold in Beijing. What did that do for all the young freeskiers and snowboarders in New Zealand?
Yeah, Nico and Zoi are some of the biggest inspirations for our whole New Zealand team. They've proven that, you know, even though we're from a small town, small names, small people ... we can we can really do big things. It's been such an honour to kind of join them these past couple of years on tour and see how they work and see how they compete. Hopefully we can follow in their footsteps this year.
What a year you have had — from the craziness of the X Games, getting in as an alternate and winning a gold medal, and winning the big air at the world championships. Do you still pinch yourself that it’s all real?
I still can't actually believe it all happened. Honestly, it's still such a crazy, crazy thought. I'm just over the moon with how everything went but at the same time I don't feel any different to I did, you know, five years ago being that little kid.
What sort of expectations will you have on yourself at the Olympics?
You know, I definitely just want to do the best I possibly can. Considering how this season went, I definitely have high hopes for myself, but at the same time I know I need to embrace every opportunity and make the most of the experience.
Have family members got plans in place? Will you have plenty of supporters in Italy?
Yeah, absolutely super excited to be having my family and some of my second family coming across, and a couple of friends, too. It's all going to be super exciting.
