Jesper Tjäder reveals what's in store at Red Bull Unrailistic 2024
What are you looking forward to at this year’s event?
I'm really looking forward to skiing the rails again and I’m hoping for some spring sunshine and slushy conditions this time around. I'm also looking forward to watching legends like Andreas Håtveit and Henrik Harlaut, and seeing how they master this year’s course. It’s going to be fun to see what they manage to get up to on the features.
Talking about the 2024 course, can you tell us a bit about it?
It’s a mix between new and older features. For example, the rainbow rail from last year is making a comeback and will be more or less the same. Then there are some new exciting ones. The course starts with a rollercoaster rail which is a street-inspired feature and also pretty fun. It will start the competition with a bang as skiers will go from a standstill at the start gate right into some big action.
There is also the dance floor which is a brand new feature. I think it could either be super fun or super scary! I’ve never skied anything like it so it’s hard to say ahead of the event how it will run. However, I think it could become a rider favourite.
Then at the very end we’ve got the wave feature. For me, spring is all about doing pond skims and that’s where the inspiration for this feature has come from. A next level pond skim but with rails, both at the bottom and at the top and with the option to wallride the wave. I think it’s going to look very cool but most importantly, be really fun to ski. It’s always fun to have some water involved.
Is there a specific feature you’re looking forward to?
Well, all of them! To link them all together will look really sick.
Who do you think will be your biggest competitor this year?
I don’t think it’s possible to beat Håtveit to be honest. He deserved it last year and he never stops practicing rails. He's almost unstoppable. It’s very impressive and inspirational.