Freeskiing
Freeskier Nico Porteous won halfpipe gold in Beijing and the SuperPipe at the X Games in 2022 – but he explains that winning requires more than nailing a few tricks on the day.
We see the spectacular winning run, the fist pumps and celebrations afterwards. We don’t often get to see what the long road to glory really looks like.
As freestyle skier Nico Porteous explains in this video above, realising his dream and winning the gold medal in the men's halfpipe event at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics was the result of years of hard graft. "I’d done it, I’d achieved this goal I’d worked so hard towards, and it was finally in front of me.”
But what does hard work really look like for the 20-year-old from New Zealand? We caught up with him earlier this year to discuss the highs and lows of his journey to success.
Blood, sweat and tears
"I'm 20 and currently getting to travel around skiing and competing. It's amazing," he tells us. "But it has taken a lot of hard work, drive and energy. It's been ten years building up to these goals that I've achieved in the last 18 months."
Porteous has done back-to-back northern and southern hemisphere winters for the last decade. There's no time for a relaxing summer. "Talent only gets you so far," he smiles.
“I‘m really lucky to have natural talent, as well as the fact that I'm quite agile, aware of my surroundings, and my body seems to move quite naturally. But I've had to put in hard work over the years, trying to learn these tricks and perfect my skiing. It does take sacrifices. It’s a 50:50 mix of talent, and blood, sweat and tears.”
Porteous also puts his success down to the efforts and sacrifices his parents made for him and his older brother Miguel, who is also a pro skier. “I really appreciate everyone who has supported me. My mom was travelling with us for years. My dad was working his arse off so that we could ski. When an athlete gets a result, there is a massive team behind them that has sacrificed so much.”
I'm travelling around the world skiing and hanging out with my friends. I wouldn't ask for any other lifestyle
Training can be particularly brutal, with pre-season seeing Porteous in the gym four days a week. “I’m doing a lot of explosive work, really making sure that my muscles can hold a certain position as well as being able to explode out of that position really fast. It’s a lot of weights, four lifting sessions a week.”
One exercise involves squat jumps with 40kg weights on the shoulders. “You go down to your skiing position, then pause there for two seconds and jump as high as you can. We do that five times.”
Another favourite is the deadlift – he can lift up to 130kg on a good day. However, during mid-season, it can be tough to keep up with the training. “It’s pretty difficult to get motivated after you come home from an event, to get up off the couch and go to the gym when you're already knackered after a big weekend skiing. Then you come home, pack your bags and fly out to another place in the morning.”
Training body and mind
Training isn’t all physical, though. Like most professional athletes, Porteous spends a lot of time focusing on mental preparation. “I can visualise myself doing a trick and actually get close to some of the feelings I would get in real life – just by running it through my head.”
Visualisation and other exercises for the mind are crucial – especially when it comes to dealing with injuries. "When I'm feeling really happy and confident, that's when I perform my best."
Currently in rehab to rebuild an anterior cruciate ligament, he’s no stranger to overcoming injury. “A big low moment of mine was breaking my foot in 2021, two days after winning the X Games. I went from the absolute craziest high to then just boom, broken foot.”
At one point it looked like Porteous would have to return home to New Zealand but he stayed on and did rehab in the US, exercising with a moon boot on. “Two days prior to the World Champs, I got back on snow. I managed to push through the pain and go on to do the World Champs. But throughout that time, I was questioning everything. What the hell am I doing away from New Zealand? I also broke up with my girlfriend. It was the middle of a gnarly pandemic.
"All those things led me to feel absolutely horrible. What kept me going was seeing my fellow athletes posting videos. That kept me driven and wanting to come back. The first time I went skiing again, it was like, I'm out of prison."
A fan of ink, Porteous actually has some prison bars tattooed on his ribs. "I have a few tattoos and a lot of scars," he says. "They've all been worth it, though. I'm travelling around the world skiing and hanging out with my friends. I wouldn't ask for any other lifestyle."
Looking to the future
Coming from Wanaka, New Zealand, Porteous also has a passion for the outdoors and loves the idea of one day living off the land. “New Zealand is such a wild, rugged country. There’s so much open space, and I think it would be really cool to be able to feed my family sustainably, hunting for my own meat or seafood. But that's a future passion project!”
In the meantime, the focus is on getting himself back to 100 percent and looking ahead to the next winter season. “I’m going to keep competing and keep working hard towards being the best skier that I can be. There’s no better feeling than being the best on the day.”