Good as Gold: Catching Up With Slopestyle's Reigning Olympic Champ Red Gerard

It was the tail stop of Colorado’s largest storm of the year. The early morning was an all-time powder day for the publications. However there was Purple Gerard, composed with no any indicator of having ridden that early morning.

His reason for the uncanny restraint experienced much less to do with preparing for the Dew Tour finals to appear the following day. Purple was basically exhausted.

“I have ridden just about every day because the 1st of last thirty day period,” Gerard explained. “I took right now off to just relaxation.”

The willpower paid off. This weekend, Gerard gained his 1st-ever Dew Tour celebration in front of family members and pals at his property mountain, Copper. The slopestyle gain arrived pretty much particularly two decades soon after his Olympic gold medal victory in the exact same willpower at age 17, when Gerard burst into world wide prominence as the youngest American snowboarder to ever medal, as perfectly as the youngest winter season Olympian, time period, to gain gold in practically a century of the game titles.

In spite of the instant notoriety from PyeongChang 2018, Gerard suggests he would prefer not to be remembered as the child who gained the Olympics. Though he brazenly admits curiosity in earning yet another prospect to do it all above yet again, he’d prefer the gain be considered just just one of the several matters that he’s finished.

“Straight up, rolling into the Olympics I experienced no clue that it was that big of a deal. I feel that is element of why I would like to go yet again, to just take in more of every little thing that goes on,” Gerard discussed of his 1st-ever Olympics. “There are so several interesting matters that are happening, and so several matters that you do not aid as well—but I feel like that comes about with everything.”

What is Gerard supporting? For the time becoming, it’s more snowboarding. And last year, he experienced currently included more to his plate than ever ahead of. Not only did he retain up with his nuts contest schedule, which requires regular journey around the globe, but he also place in the time and work to film a video element totally in the backcountry for the unbiased snowboard motion picture, Joy.

“It was so gnarly hoping to harmony contests and filming,” Gerard explained. “It was the most frantic period I’ve ever experienced, for sure. But, it was seriously addicting. I preferred it a whole lot and I am carrying out it yet again this year. I’m going to do contests and film.”

To include to the accolade pile, last 7 days Joy gained the Film of the Yr category at the inaugural Snowboarder Awards. In addition to becoming on the established of showcased riders, Gerard was also nominated for the Rider of the Yr award together with legendary riders Travis Rice and Sage Kotsenburg (Kotsenburg becoming the only other Olympic gold medalist in snowboard slopestyle).

Then arrived the Dew Tour slopestyle gain two days later on from a stacked discipline of competitors, like fellow Olympic medalists Mark McMorris, Stale Sandbech, Max Parrot and several more. In spite of ailments generating for a complicated bounce section only making it possible for a couple of riders to land triple cork tips, Gerard stood aside by landing the only swap bottom triple cork 1260.

Irrespective of whether you connect with it property-discipline edge, Gerard has place in the time on his snowboard, starting up at age 2 and affected by his brothers. By 7, his mom and dad decided to split their time in between Ohio in the summers (wherever Gerard was born) and Colorado for the winters. Before he was even a teen, the move to Colorado turned complete-time. Now at 19, he’s capturing marquee film segments and winning contests from the world’s best. Suddenly he’s not some child, but fairly a stakeholder in the sport imagining about the future measures in how to form its development. That seem in advance commences with the present-day contest structure.

“It’s so really hard mainly because fifty percent of the contests we do are the FIS (Worldwide Ski Federation) contests, and they seriously just cannot do everything,” discussed Gerard. “They have tips, or one thing, and it’s not even worthy of hoping to converse to them about it.”

Then there are the other mainstays in snowboarding levels of competition.

“Dew Tour, X Video games and the [Burton U.S.] Open—I have often been a big enthusiast of their classes,” explained Gerard, acknowledging that creativeness in study course layout is even now existing in today’s contests. “Those a few contests, just about every time I go to just one, I display up with no clue what is going to be in the study course, I just know it is going to be nuts.”

To the concern of developing a slopestyle study course: “If I were to do it, it would be equivalent to the 50 percent Park operate that [Danny Davis] intended at Peace Park. I was a substantial enthusiast of that. A [major] contest like that is going to have to take place, with slopestyle and halfpipe achieving this peak. That is one thing I am absolutely in aid of.”

Possibly Wintertime Dew Tour 2021 will be Gerard’s prospect to display the globe his vision of a marquee snowboarding contest. Just after all, he does ride for the event’s two most significant sponsors, Mountain Dew and Toyota. No matter of what Gerard does as an individual, he has spoken for several elite snowboard athletes competing at the sport’s highest degree.

“One thing that I feel we can do as riders is be more concerned,” Gerard expressed when reflecting on some of the Riders Meetings he has attended all through present situations. “That is just one of my priorities: to get more concerned.”