After the Winter Olympics and the globes, the Winter X Games is just one of one of the most crucial days on the wintertime sporting activities schedule. It’s a competitors that seeks to press the limitations of techniques, with motorcyclists bold to go larger. More than that, you need to obtain welcomed to participate. For Annika Morgan, Germany’s celebrity snowboarder, that is simply one reason that this competitors matters a lot.
“Only eight girls are in slope style [a downhill event, usually with a variety of obstacles in which athletes are awarded points for originality and trick quality]and there’s like three alternates, I think so it’s just 11 girls that are actually there. And when you compare that to a World Cup, where there are 30 girls competing and it’s everyone from all around the world, it’s just such a big deal to even be at the X Games,” Morgan, that is intending to medal, informed DW.
The occasion, which has actually been kept in Aspen, Colorado considering that 2002, is where the enrollers come, brand-new equipment gets on program and the occasions get on in benches. It could not be the Olympics, yet it is a famous occasion in the snowboarding neighborhood.
Morgan is the youngest of 5 brother or sisters. She began number skating when she was 2, completing at 4 and did it seriously up until she was 15. But it was snowboarding that won her over, and by 16 she was affordable. The 22-year-old has actually taken her board throughout the globe, winning silver at the young people Olympics prior to getting the Olympics in 2022. In Beijing, she protected a top-10 place in both the Big Air (a downhill occasion, generally with one huge dive to carry out a technique) and slopestyle occasions. At in 2014’s X Games, she ended up second in the Knuckle Huck (a variant on Big Air yet with even more possibility to attempt trendy techniques).
Tricks and techno
But, unlike lots of 22-year-old celebrities, Morgan is significantly not specified by her snowboarding.
“Yes, snowboarding is my life, but if I ever have to quit or something, I don’t want it to be super depressing for me because then I lose snowboarding. I also want to have something else in my life. Figure skating is also a really big thing in my life, and it’s nice to have a little balance between snowboarding and my normal day-to-day life, because my life really circles around snowboarding all the time I’m traveling and always thinking about snowboarding when I’m home. And it’s also nice to just let loose and have DJing, for example, and kind of nerd out about that with my brother and have fun,” stated Morgan, whose sibling is mosting likely to Aspen, where they are intending to DJ with each other at the after celebration.
Beyond the songs, Morgan additionally has actually serviced a YouTube Series called Meet the Morgans, in which her household and snowboarding experiences get on display screen. Her home town of Mittenwald, in Bavaria, is additionally on display screen which German heritage, past her love for techno songs, remains with her anywhere she goes.
“I’m very fortunate that I grew up in such a beautiful place, and a cultural place too. I think Mittenwald is such a picture perfect town and I’m so blessed that I got to grow up in a culture like that,” Morgan stated. “For example, this year was the first time in like a couple years that we had a beer tent and it was such a big deal, and everyone got dressed up in the dirndl and the lederhosen, and it was just so much fun to express that.”
Community and competitors
Snowboarding is coming to be significantly affordable, yet it had not been constantly in this way.
“It’s really nice to just hang out and then you’re also competing against them, but you’re also stoked for them when they land or if they’re on the podium. I feel like it has changed a little bit throughout the years “, a little bit a lot more affordable with all the brand-new ladies can be found in. They’re a little bit more youthful and currently I seem like I’m extremely old in the snowboarding circuit, although I’m not,” she stated.
“It’s definitely different than four years ago. There’s also way fewer snowboarders that I grew up snowboarding with. It’s just more younger kids coming in. I still hope it will be as it was for me, because it was very special and not many sports have that.”
Morgan is a little bit a lot more cool currently than 4 years back. Even if she intends to medal at the X Games and get approved for the Olympics in Milan, the 22-year-old is living right now a lot more.
“I’m just soaking it in,” she stated. “I don’t have any goals because I don’t like to claim stuff. I don’t like to claim, ‘Oh yeah, I want to win there.’ Because if it doesn’t happen, then I’m just going to be more disappointed.”
Nevertheless, the active routine continues to be. Morgan will certainly remain in Aspen for 3 weeks, for the X Games and the World Cup that complies with. Then she’ll have a long time off prior to she returns to Calgary, Alberta, prior to the World Cup cycle begins once again. Wherever she winds up, she’ll impend in a manner couple of can think of.
“You’re just there, floating, and your body’s doing whatever it needs it to do,” stated Morgan, when asked what it seems like to be a snowboarder.
“I rely on muscle memory and hope that it works out. It’s not about memorizing stuff for me. It’s just about doing it and hoping for the best outcome.”
Edited by Chuck Penfold
