The Sarah Hoefflin Interview

The 2020/21 FIS Freeski World Cup gets underway this week, and in the lead-up to the season-opener in Stubai (AUT) we're reaching out to all 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, 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. The last of our six Freeski athletes to be featured is 2019/20 women's slopestyle crystal globe winner and reigning slopestyle Olympic gold medallist Sarah Hoefflin...

With just a few days to go before a hotly anticipated start to the 2020/21 FIS Freeski World Cup season takes to the slopes of the Stubai glacier in Austria, we finally caught up with the last athlete on our list of 2019/20 crystal globe winning freeskiers, with the one and only Sarah Hoefflin getting back to us with her answers to our questions just before heading to Stubai with the rest of the Swiss Freeski team.

While Sarah's backstory has become something of a legend in freeski circles (there's a good, in-depth breakdown of it in this Mpora interview), that doesn't make the story any less remarkable when you revisit it: a casual skier through her formative years and into her 20's while living in Great Britain, she first hit a terrain park on a ski trip with her Cardiff University classmates and began working on the foundation that she would build up at a incredible pace in the years to come.

From those first steps in the park she then began competing in univeristy-level competitions, and then moved to the French Alps after uni and started seeing some real progression when she became a park rat at Tignes and Val Thorens. After entering an SFR event at Val Thorens in 2015 she got the attention of the Swiss team and was asked to join the squad, only to blow her knee soon after. Despite such a massive setback coming just as she seemed to be picking up real momentum, Sarah was able to battle her way back into shape, and she finally hit the World Cup in 2016/17. There, as a 25 year-old World Cup rookie, she promptly won the slopestyle crystal globe.

Fast-forward to January 2018 and things get even more incredible, as in her sophomore season Sarah simply showed up to her first X Games and claimed first place in the first event she entered at the big air competition. Then, three weeks later, on the world's biggest stage at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games, she stole the show yet again, stepping up to the massive Olympic course and laying down an all-or-nothing final run that vaulted her above her teammate Mathild Gremaud and into the gold medal position.

To call her career so far a "storybook" tale wouldn't really do it justice, because the Sarah Hoefflin story is one the likes of which we've never seen before. You've only got to look to last season's slopestyle crystal globe-winning campaign to see another example of this, as with the win she became the first woman in World Cup history to win the title twice.

Now the owner of two globes, Olympic gold, four X Games medals, and many more accolades, Sarah Hoefflin has earned her place as one freeskiing's greats, and is a fitting athlete to close out the freeski portion of our interview series and send us into the 2020/21 World Cup season. Read on below...

FIS - When we last spoke to you, just after you had won your crystal globe following the early end to the season, it seemed to me like you were happy, but also like you knew that there were bigger things going on in the world and you didn’t want to make too big a deal of your win. Have you been able to enjoy your accomplishments a little bit more in the months since then?

Sarah Hoefflin - Winning the globe felt a bit surreal this year since the last competition of the season couldn’t happen due to covid. Over time, I’ve definitely accepted the win more, as it’s not the first time a competition got cancelled, and at the end of the day I did have a great World Cup season so it felt more deserved the more I thought about it. I did have a great summer to turn the page and I’m so excited about the new season starting up again.

FIS - You’ve got two globes now, the Olympic gold, X Games gold, Dew Tour podiums…really the only major top-three you don’t have is at the world champs. Do you have your eyes set on this season’s world championships in Zhangjiakuo already, or is it more about the whole process of the season for you? What’s your mentality heading into this winter?

SH - I know the world championships is a competition I’m yet to podium at, but in all honesty I don’t really think about it too much. For me the most important thing is to have a fun season. I’d be really stoked if I could get 1 or 2 podiums, but I think it’s going to get much more challenging with all the girls pushing and getting so good at the moment! Heading into this winter, I’m feeling really positive and looking to make the most of it, because who knows what’s going to happen!

FIS - It was a huge year for the Swiss Freeski squad last season with you, Andri Ragettli, and Giulia Tanno all winning globes, while you also had Fabian Boesch and Mathilde Gremaud earning podiums - how much fun is it to get ski with all those guys and to be part of one of the strongest national slopestyle/big air teams in the world?

SH - I’m so proud and hyped to be a part of the Swiss Freeski team. They are a big family of weirdos to me and I absolutely love hanging around and skiing with those reprobates.

FIS - The X Segment from Faction’s “The Collective” video premiered almost exactly one year ago, and it’s still such a fun part to watch. How cool was it to be a part of that? What’s the vibe like when you get together with all those great skiers to film instead of competing against one another? Any other film projects coming up?

SH - Being a part of the Faction Collective film last year is a highlight of my ski career. I loved the process and was thrilled to watch the women’s segment on the big screen. I’ve become closer to the girls after that experience. Skiing with these awesome ladies now is really special.

This year I’ve got a couple of exciting film projects coming up. There will be a new one with the Faction crew, and another personal one that I’m working on in Leysin, Switzerland. I can’t share that much now but it’s going to be fun, so keep your eyes peeled.

FIS - The story about how relatively 'late' you discovered freeskiing - and how quickly you made your way through the ranks once you made skiing your life - is pretty well known, but I was wondering how your unconventional path to where you are now shapes your perspective on skiing and competing?

SH - I have different goals to the other people on my team, and being a bit older than the others means that I have different responsibilities in life. Instead of buying clothes and wine I’m now buying sofas and fridges. As for skiing and competing, I don’t think I’m too different to the other members of my team. I still want to progress and keep bringing home the medals.

FIS - Medals and podiums aside, what are your goals for the next few years of your skiing career?

SH - Get a new fridge that fits in my kitchen! As for skiing, I want to keep progressing. My body feels good and young and I’m positive that I can keep pushing my level for a few more years to come. I also want to produce a few more ski film parts and take a more active role in coaching the younger generation in order to give back to a world that has already given so much to me.

FIS - What would one perfect day in the life of Sarah Hoefflin look like?

SH - Wake up with a fresh dump of snow. It’s still nuking in the morning and all the tourists are taking the day off. I fetch my Faction CT3.0x and a croissant on the way out. After riding an empty resort with friends and getting face shots in the forest for a few hours, it stops snowing and I head into town at lunch to munch on a delicious sandwich from the boulangerie. The sky clears and I nip home to change into my park skis. In the park, the landings are soft and the sun is peeking from behind clouds. I take the occasional gondola up to the top of the mountain to blast down some piste in between the park runs. Then I head back home and grab my touring skis to hike up a mountain and I feel a bit smug as I ski down watching the most beautiful sunset. Stop at the bar on the way home and order a well-deserved panache, grinning and high-fiving my friends the whole evening.

Sarah Hoefflin official website