Snowboarding
Who is the world’s best unsponsored snowboarder?
Seriously, can somebody hook these riders up? Second and final part of the series.
It’s an interesting time to be a pro snowboarder. While snowboarding was reported to be the most popular winter discipline in 2014, actual participation has been in steady decline since its peak in 2007.
Shrinking equipment sales have hit the industry hard, and with many brands going out of business and others slashing their marketing budgets, sponsorship is harder to come by today than it’s ever been.
Which means there’s a whole load of talent out there riding for a whole load of reasons, none of which are because they’re getting paid. So, sponsors, pay attention! We’ve made it nice and easy for you. Here are our second of five personal picks of the world’s top-10 unsponsored shreds right now.
Ok, so IPod has an energy drink hookup so he’s not unsponsored, but with no clothing, board, goggle or any other snowboarding-related sponsor, he’s definitely way less stickered-up than you’d expect for a gold medallist with chiselled abs and cheekbones to die for. The only two possible explanations are: a) snowboard brands can’t afford him b) snowboard brands don’t want him. I’ve no idea if it’s a) or b), but the fact Iouri seems way more interested in shooting a Vogue cover than appearing on a Transworld one must say something, right?
In the ‘all-time-unsponsored-icon’ category, there is only one contender: Scotty Whittlake. For those too young to remember: let’s recap. Portland-based DIY punk dirtbag shredder whose part in Kingpin’s 1999 movie The Revival shot him straight into the big-time. All that fame and money didn’t sit well with his lack of ego and anti-consumerist values, so, after a few years of donating most of his paychecks to charity, Scotty quit the game at the peak of his career. A legend was born, and while everyone else scratched their heads and whispered, “did he go crazy?” Scotty was working a regular job, spending every free moment he could riding, and happy not feeling like a sellout. Respect!
Norway currently has the deepest talent pool in snowboarding, and, to continue with the aquatic analogy, only the tip of the talent iceberg is sponsored. So we asked Thomas Harstad, former pro snowboarder and Norwegian national snowboard team coach for his pick of the under-monetised crop. His reply? 33-year-old Per Iver Grimsrud. A former Norwegian team rider, Per Iver now works as a trainer, travelling the world with Harstad and the rest of the national team. And, judging by his Instagram feed, he’s ripping harder than ever.
When guys like Ulrik Badertscher are ‘in-between opportunities’ sponsor-wise, you know there’s something rotten in the state of snowboarding. This ultra-mellow Norwegian is one of the best riders in the world, with an Air & Style title to his name and the unofficial title of ‘ Halldor Helgason’s favourite snowboarder’. Which kind of tells you all you need to know about Ulrik: he’s technically brilliant, but he’s also totally spontaneous and never plays it safe – two reasons why he’s more exciting to watch than pretty much any other slopestyle rider in the world, and also why he lacks the consistency you need to make a podium (and keep your sponsors) in 2016.
OK, this Dutch ripper might have plenty of sponsors, but it’s the one she doesn’t have that makes this story. In 2014, Cheryl got dropped by Volcom, her biggest sponsor and a brand she’d been riding for most of her career. As an older rider approaching 30 who’d been battling injuries and slowly losing her competitive mojo, her confidence was hit, hard. But, instead of retiring, Cheryl staged one hell of a comeback: starting with winning the 2014 FIS Big Air World Championship, in February 2016 Cheryl won her first X Games medal – Big Air Gold in Oslo. In your face, Volcom!
