Visualisation the key for freeski star Birk Ruud as Youth Olympic champion eyes Beijing gold

As a 13-year-old, Birk Ruud wrote down two goals.

One was to become Youth Olympic Games champion in 2016, and the other was to win Olympic gold in 2022. The freestyle skier has already achieved the first part, having topped the slopestyle podium at Lillehammer 2016, and now he is focusing all his efforts on fulfilling the second part.

The 21-year-old Norwegian certainly has a good chance of making that dream a reality, having established himself as one of the most exciting and accomplished freeskiers in the world.

He’s already won back-to-back X-Games gold medals (in 2018 and 2019) and successive World Cup crystal globes (2019/20 and 2020/21) for big air, as well as a World Championship silver medal for slopestyle. He will be competing in both freeski disciplines in Beijing and is not only busy practising his runs back home in Norway – he’s also visualising the tricks that he hopes will lead him to the top of the podium.

With the Games set to begin in just a few weeks’ time, Olympics.com spoke to Ruud about his preparations, as well as the challenges he has faced over the last year following the death of his father, Øivind, who lost his battle with cancer in April 2021.

Olympics.com: With Beijing 2022 fast approaching, how are you feeling ahead of your Olympic debut?

Birk Ruud: I’m feeling good, pretty chill. I'm practising in Norway, trying to stay safe, stay healthy and get ready for the Olympics. I'm just trying to focus on skiing and having fun. Of course, I'm very excited, but I try to focus on just having a good time now. I’m putting my tricks together, so I'll be ready, because I know when the time comes, I'll have more than enough time to get nervous and have all these thoughts. So now I'm just trying to enjoy life and stay in the moment.

Are you happy with where you are with your skiing at the moment?

I'm working pretty hard because I had an injury five-and-a-half weeks ago, at the World Cup in Steamboat. So I had to go straight home and do some rehab and just work and train hard. Now, finally, one-and-a-half a weeks ago I got back to skiing. I'm just trying to get into it and get all my tricks back and get comfortable.

 Is it difficult to get back to it after an injury?

It depends who you ask, but for me it's not that hard usually. I have a good feeling on my tricks and it's like when you learn to ride a bike; it's the same kind of feeling for me. The tricks are already there, I just need to trust my body and get comfortable while progressing. I’ve been taking small steps, but now I feel like I'm pretty comfortable.

Do you feel any fear when you try a new trick?

Yeah of course, I'm always pretty nervous when I want to do something new. But it's always trusting in yourself that matters. If you trust yourself, you will be fine. You know you can do it and then you just send it. But if you're a little unsure or insecure about what you are doing, the chances of getting injured or not making it are way bigger. So, if I trust myself, usually I'll be fine.

You describe yourself as ‘action man’ on your Instagram profile and love other extreme sports like cliff diving. What is it about these action sports that you enjoy?

I love the feeling of mastering something, or the feeling of learning something new. It doesn't have to always be skiing and that's why I try to do other stuff. I ski almost the whole year so I get that feeling less in skiing than I would do in skateboarding or snowboarding or something that I'm not as good at. I think it's also very good for me and for my brain to have to work with something new.

Do you feel like all these other activities help you with your skiing?

Yeah, I feel like they definitely help me. When I snowboard, I have to think a whole new way. Even if I ski half-pipe or go skateboarding or train on trampoline, all these small things in my brain have to work and I feel like I grow a better control and balance. It’s all very natural to skiing.

Do you feel like you need a high level of mental strength?

Of course, yes. Mental strength is very, very important to me.

I feel like that one of the important things that I've always had with me, that maybe separates me from other skiers, is that my mental game is pretty strong. I'm able to visualise everything I do. So if I want to do something new, I have visualised it so many times that it's very natural for me to do it. I can basically feel it. It’s something I’ve done since I was a little kid. I would just lay down, looking at the ceiling and visualising the big jump, taking off and doing all these crazy triples and quads. It's interesting because I feel like that's basically how I'm able to put down a new trick at first try or second try, because it's already basically there.

Have you been visualising anything ahead of Beijing 2022?

I have been visualising my tricks for the Olympics many times. I’ve got some new tricks for the Olympics, which I'm excited about.

I don't visualise the medal, because there's a lot of things you have to do before you get a medal. If you can do the tricks you visualise and land them, the medal will probably come afterwards. That's the thing I learned when I was younger; that if I can focus and be in the moment and focus on my skiing, everything else will pay off afterwards.

Beijing won't be your first Olympic experience; you were also in the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in 2016. What are your memories of that event?

Good memories! I was way younger and I didn't have too many expectations; I just wanted to ski and enjoy my time there. I didn't think too much about the competition, so I was just having a good time. I think that's what I'm going to try to focus on for this Olympics too. I won the Youth Olympics and I really enjoyed the time there. Hopefully we will have some good times in Beijing. I'm really excited for it.

Did winning gold at the Youth Olympics inspire you to keep going and aim for Olympic gold?

Yes, it did. Winning that gold there was pretty crazy for me; it was like a dream come true. A couple of years before, I painted on a wall, "Youth Olympic gold medallist 2016." And when I wrote that, I also wrote, "Olympic gold 2022." So it's been a goal for me since I was 13. It's been in my mind for a very long time. The dream would be to get the gold medal.

You’ll have two chances to win gold, in big air and slopestyle. Why did you decide not to also compete in halfpipe?

I was supposed to do all three, but I decided before this season that I would only focus on big air and slopestyle. I’ve only been skiing two half-seasons of halfpipe, and after the World Champs I figured that it was going to take me at least a couple of months to get up to the level I wanted to have a chance to get a medal. At the same time, I had a lot of other things to think about. My father was sick with cancer. I wasn't focusing too much on skiing at all when he was sick. So I basically figured out it would be smart for me to put all my time into big air and slopestyle. Then I'd have a better chance at doing two really good results than having to rush it through with three events and maybe it will affect the other disciplines.

How have you been coping with your father’s passing?

It's tough. But there's nothing you can do; you just have to accept it. I've had some time to be with family and we've talked about it. You get a big scar. It is what it is. I'm trying to make the best out of it.

Are you hoping to honour him with your performances in Beijing?

No. He was never that type of guy; the results didn't matter for him. The most important thing for him was that I do what I love. He always taught me, "Whatever you do, you have to do it for yourself." I will definitely just do my best for myself. I think that is the thing that would make him the most happy or proud.

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