The Andri Ragettli Interview

The 2020/21 FIS Freeski World Cup gets underway in Stubai from 20-21 November, and in the lead-up to the season-opener we're reaching out to some of last winter's crystal globe winners to get a sense of what it's like to  head into a new winter as top dog, what they've been up to in an extended period of down time since last season ended, and what their hopes are for the coming season and beyond. Today's feature is on 2019/20 men's slopestyle crystal globe winner Andri Ragettli of Switzerland...

With seven wins and 19 podiums in 37 career starts helping him to earn four crystal globes split betwen slopestyle (3) and big air (1), Switzerland's Andri Ragettli currently owns or shares a piece of three of the biggest records in FIS Freeski World Cup competition. And, with the sort of unapologetic drive, determination and commitment to his craft that has made him one of the most consistently exceptional freeskiers in the world (he's only finished outside of the top-10 seven times since he first joined the World Cup circuit at the beginning of the 2013/14 season) Andri is a threat to add to his record-setting totals every single time he drops in on a World Cup competition.

Throw in some big time innovation in his field (Andri became the first freeskier ever to land a quad corked 1800 back at the 2017 Nine Knights event), and his status as one of the elite-level influencers of the ski world (440k Instagram followers, YouTube video views numbering in the millions, a first-name basis familiarity with sporting royalty from tennis to football), and you have an almost ideal model for the skiing star of the modern age.

Now 22 years-old, Andri seems to every day be getting closer to what he would call "the best version of Andri Ragettli that (he) can be," and with the Zhangjiakuo 2021 FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships coming up this February and the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games one year after that, his status as a podium favourite is only getting stronger all the time.

Earlier this week we caught up with Andri at the Swiss Freeski camp at Glacier 3000 to talk going viral, career highlights so far, and where his head is at as we head into the 2020/21 competition season...

FIS - First things first, your latest parkour video hit the internet over the weekend and is once again putting up numbers. Obviously, the payoff once it goes online and people go nuts for it must be great, but you said yourself that this took 148 tries or something - is there ever a moment in there where you just think to yourself, “this is crazy”?

Andri Ragettli - Ha...of course, yeah. I wasn’t actually going to do another one of these videos, but I did an Instagram story with a vote for if I should do another and everyone voted for “Yes,” so it was like, ok, let’s go for it, do probably one last video like this one, in the gym.

It took me quite a while to plan everything, to know what I wanted to do. I don’t want to just do another one just to do it. It has to be good. It has to be crazy. So I’ve got to think a lot about that.

And then I do one day of practice and then a whole day of filming. 148 tries…it took forever. There was definitely some times when I was like, “F*** this, I’m way too tired, my legs are sore, I don’t know if I can make it.” But I just can’t quit, in general. It’s kind of not an option for me. If I would have quit I would have gone to bed crying, probably (laughing). So I just did it until I had it at like 6:00pm after more than four hours of trying, and I got to go home happy.

It’s always a challenge though. It’s tough. When you do it, it’s maybe not that fun. But once you’ve got it, that’s the nice part about that kind of thing.

Which feature caused you the most problems in the latest clip? Like, with the one-footed green roller, did you ever just think “ok, I’m going two feet on this, let’s just get past this part”?

AR - The green roller was actually a pretty easy part! The flip onto the skateboard was for sure the hardest. That’s why I put it as the first obstacle, so I could just go back right away. But everything is hard in there, you know? I failed at every feature more than once. The skateboard, the slackline, the bike, and then the finish there were like 5-10 tries where I failed on the last stupid thing. So that was…really annoying.

FIS - It must be helpful to have your brother there filming it for you.

AR - Yeah, for sure. We get some requests for people from like TV want to film it, but it’s kind of like, no, I just want to be with my bro and do it by myself because it takes a lot of patience. He can help me and it works really great.

FIS - I was reading some older interviews with you, and I guess from just watching you ski as well, and with the commitment to your parkour/floor is lava videos, it strikes me how driven you are and how unapologetic about that you are, which is maybe not typical in freeski circles. Where do you think that drive to succeed comes from?

AR - On the one hand it’s from myself, but I think also I got it from my brother. When we were younger - my brother’s three years older than me - but even playing games on PlayStation like FIFA or something, it was always a match, you know? Who’s going to win? Every day was a competition against my brother and I always compared myself to him. I think that’s maybe why I really like competition and I’m really driven.

FIS - I was looking at your stats yesterday and was a little bit surprised to see that you’ve only got one world championships start. How much are you looking forward to fixing that situation and hopefully adding some world champs hardware to your collection this season?

AR - Yeahhh, man, that’s why I’m really looking forward to China and I’m really hoping it’s not going to be cancelled. That’s one of my biggest goals for this season, for sure, the world champs. I missed Kreischberg 2015 because it was at the same time as X Games and I decided to go with X Games, and then one year I went and ended up 5th or 6th or something, and then for Utah 2019 I got injured, so yeah, I’m really looking forward to this one and hopefully finally getting on the podium there.

FIS - From your quad 1800, to the first time you went hyper-viral and had guys like Novak Djokovic or the Real Madrid football club shouting you out, to the records you continue to set for freeskiers on the World Cup, what’s been your favourite moment of you career so far?

AR - Ah, that’s a tough one. There are a few. The quad cork was for sure a career highlight. But some of the highlights are more like filming, or when I’m just skiing for myself. But one highlight for sure was my first World Cup victory in Silvaplana (SUI). I was 17 years-old, I got my first win, and I also won the globe with that, so for sure that was one of the nicest days in my career.

The quad cork was just cool, you know? When you know you’re the first one, with the four flips…I was just really happy, not only because I did the quad but also because of the feeling I had in myself that day. It was a nice moment. So yeah, I’d say those two.

FIS - Yeah, I rewatched that video the other day and imagining that feeling of standing up there with the camera in front of you and just being like, “Well, I think today I’m going to do the first quad cork 1800.” It must have been wild.

AR - Ha yeah, that was for sure a little bit of the motivation behind it. I wasn’t really planning on doing it or anything, but when I knew I could do it on that jump, and I could be the first one, it was like, “Ok, I’m going to try it.” The video is actually the second try though…the first one I didn’t grab perfect.

FIS - I think I probably don’t even need to ask you what your goals are for the next two seasons with the world championships and the Olympics coming up, but I am interested in what your mindset is as you move into this competition season and leading up to the next one - what are you focused on?

AR - I’m really trying not to focus on making podiums at the world champs or the Olympics. I’m focused on my training and trying to get better anywhere I can, to be the best possible version of myself. If I do that, and I work hard every day, I’m sure I can end up podiums.

Of course it’s a goal for me to be on the podium at the Olympics or the world champs, but it’s not the direct goal, you know? The goal is to keep pushing myself. If I do that, the medals will follow. So that’s kind of my mindset for the next two seasons.

I’m not nervous or anything. I know this season is already the Olympic qualifiers, but I’m not thinking about that. I’m just skiing, and every World Cup I’ll try to do my best and that’s all I can do. If you only focus on the result…you shouldn’t do that. I was like that when I was younger, but I’ve changed that.

FIS - Finally, the question I’ve been asking everyone through this series - what does one perfect day look like in the life of Andri Ragettli?

AR - I mean, kinda like today. We went skiing, the whole Swiss Freeski team, it was nice and sunny, we had fun together, and we improved our skiing. Just a day skiing and getting better with friends. And maybe it could be slushy as well…I really like slushy spring conditions.

But I also really like competitions, when you’re nervous and you don’t know what's going to happen, but you do well and you end up with a really nice feeling at the end…that could also be a perfect day.

FIS - And then what’s for dinner at the end of that perfect day?

AR - Ah, that would be my favourite meal, which is pizokel. It’s a Swiss specialty, from Grisons, where I live. My grandmother always cooks it for me, so that would be my best meal for the best day.