Seven questions with big air crystal globe winner Giulia Tanno

The 2020/21 FIS Freeski World Cup gets underway in just under a month, and in the lead-up to the kickoff in Stubai (AUT) we're reaching out to some of last season's crystal globe winners to get a sense of what it's like to  head into a new winter as top dog, how they've held it together over what was a pretty difficult summer for everybody, and what their hopes are for the coming season and beyond. Today's feature is 2019/20 women's big air crystal globe winner Giulia Tanno of Switzerland...

One of the biggest - if not the biggest - moments in the history of Swiss freeskiing at the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games came in the women's slopestyle competition, where Sarah Hoefflin and Mathilde Gremaud conquered the massive, challenging Olympic course to finish 1-2 and bring the gold and silver medals home to Schweiz.

While the Swiss triumph in Korea is moment forever etched in freeski history, it's easy to forget that it could very easily have been an even bigger moment in the form of a potential Swiss sweep of the podium, had the third member of the nation's elite three, Giulia Tanno, not broken her arm at the X Games just before she was slated to head off to PyeongChang.

Fully recovered from her injury in time for the 2018/19 season and back on track with some strong early season results, heartbreak was again in store for Tanno in February of 2019 when she suffered a leg injury at the Utah 2019 FIS Snowboard, Freestlye & Freeski World Championships.

If there's a theme runnning through Giulia's career, however, it's that there's no setback that's going to slow her down for long, and that she is well able to shrug off the physical and emotional hardships of an ill-timed injury to return to snow fitter - and hungrier - than ever.

In the 2019/20 season she proved that with aplomb.

Beginning in August of last season at X Games Norway, Giulia put together a remarkable string of five-straight second place finishes that stretched through the early-season big air portion of the calendar right up to the Font Romeu (FRA) slopestyle World Cup in January. And, while her results tailed off a little bit in the final two slopestyle World Cups of the season, her three big air World Cup runner-up results from earlier in 2019/20 would be more than enough to give her the season's crystal globe once the season's final competition in Destne (CZE) was cancelled due to the tough conditions.

After putting an exclamation point on her 2019/20 season with a slopestyle bronze at X Games Norway in March, Tanno was able to head into pandemic lockdown healthy, happy with her performances, and able to set her focus on the coming seasons, where she'll aim to show the world that she is more than ready to make up for her previous world champs and Olympic heartbreaks.

Read on below to hear more about it from the thoughtful 22 year-old, herself...

FIS - In 2018/19 your season ended in the worst kind of way with a broken ankle and torn ligament, but you were right back and ready for competition for the start of last season where you came out with five straight second-place finishes (One at X Games Norway and four World Cups). Did you expect to be so successful coming back from such a gnarly injury?

Giulia Tanno - To be honest I didn't expect this at all. My number one goal was just to stay healthy for the season since I had a lot of injuries in the past years. I didn't focus all that much about the outcome of the competitions. I was just very grateful to be back, and I think that helped my skiing a lot because I didn't put too much pressure on myself. That first podium at X Games Norway for sure helped with my confidence for the upcoming events, though.

FIS - What did it mean to you to have such a successful season and to win the crystal globe as the best big air skier of the year?

GT - It meant a lot to have such a successful season. It showed me that the hard work that I put in during my injury, mentally and physically, was all worth it. To finish the season by winning the crystal globe was the cherry on top of an amazing season and definitely a dream come true.

FIS - Along with your globe, the Swiss team also saw Sarah Hoefflin and Andri Ragettli win the women’s and men’s slopestyle globes - what’s it like being part of such a strong team and having that success?

GT - I feel like it helps my skiing a lot to be part of such a successful and talented team. It's super motivating to see my teammates do well, and we all constantly push each other to get better.

FIS - Obviously it was an off-season unlike any we’ve ever seen before, with the pandemic going on. Did you find yourself freaking out at all anytime in the last few months? What did you do to stay level and stay stoked even with everything going on in the world?

GT - Yes, the past few months have definitely been challenging for everyone. We were kinda lucky that our season didn't suffer too much from the pandemic, but now that the situation is getting a bit worse again everywhere it's hard to know what's really gonna happen this season. For me personally I just tried to do all the summer training and preparations as if it is a normal year coming up, and then I’ll just take it however it's gonna be. i'm just trying to be positive about the whole situation even if it's hard at times. We’ve been lucky enough to be able to ski on the glacier in Saas Fee, so we’re all just really grateful to be able to ski and do what we love during these times.

FIS - With the Zhangjiakuo 2021 FIS Snowboard, Freestyle & Freeski World Championships coming up in February in China and then the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games one year after that, what are your goals for the next year and a half of competition?

GT - Mainly I want to stay healthy and keep progressing as much as possible while having a lot of fun. Of course that includes getting good results (more podiums and globes), and making it to my first Olympics since I missed out on the 2018 Olympics due to an injury that occurred just 3 weeks before Korea. That was probably the hardest pill to swallow in my career, as I was skiing really well at that time and had high hopes for the Olympics. So I really hope I can make up for that disappointment this time around.

FIS - Who inspired you when you were coming up in the freeski world, and who inspires you now?

GT - The whole Swiss Freeski team at that time that I was coming up inspired me, but mostly Kai Mahler, I would say, since he was so successful at that time. I also watched all the Nine Queens entries like a hundred times because I wasn't used to seeing other girls ski park. That was like my biggest dream at that time, to one day be part of that event.

One moment I remember like yesterday was watching the World Cup in New Zealand in like, 2013 I think? It was Maggie Voisin’s first World Cup and I couldn't believe she was the same age as me and already skiing that well. That for sure inspired me, and still to this day Maggie is a big inspiration for me.

And of course all the other girls that are killing it right now. It’s hard to point out just one person who inspires me the most because so many girls are progressing so much right now, and that is generally just really pushing me to keep progressing as well.

FIS - What does one perfect day in the life of Giulia Tanno look like?

GT - Nice spring conditions, skiing with my friends and just enjoying the good times… :)