After the Winter Olympics and the worlds, the Winter X Games is one of the most important dates on the winter sports calendar. It’s a competition that looks to push the limits of disciplines, with riders daring to go bigger. More than that, you have to get invited to take part. For Annika Morgan, Germany’s star snowboarder, that is just one reason why this competition matters so much.
“Only eight girls are in slopestyle [a downhill event, usually with a variety of obstacles in which athletes are awarded points for originality and trick quality], and there’s like three alternates, I think so it’s just 11 girls that are actually there. And when you compare that to a World Cup, where there are 30 girls competing and it’s everyone from all the around the world, it’s just such a big deal to even be at the X Games,” Morgan, who is aiming to medal, told DW.
The event, which has been held in Aspen, Colorado since 2002, is where the sponsors come, new gear is on show and the events are on in the bars. It might not be the Olympics, but it is a prominent event in the snowboarding community.
Morgan is the youngest of five siblings. She started figure skating when she was two, competing at four and did it seriously until she was 15. But it was snowboarding that won her over, and by 16 she was competitive. The 22-year-old has taken her board across the world, winning silver at the youth Olympics before qualifying for the Olympics in 2022. In Beijing, she secured a top-10 spot in both the Big Air (a downhill event, usually with one large jump to perform a trick) and slopestyle events. At last year’s X Games, she finished second in the Knuckle Huck (a variation on Big Air but with more opportunity to try stylish tricks).
Tricks and techno
But, unlike many 22-year-old stars, Morgan is increasingly not defined by her snowboarding.
“Yes, snowboarding is my life, but if I ever have to quit or something, I don’t want it to be super depressing for me because then I lose snowboarding. I also want to have something else in my life. Figure skating is also a really big thing in my life, and it’s nice to have a little balance between snowboarding and my normal day-to-day life, because my my life really circles around snowboarding all the time. I’m traveling and always thinking about snowboarding when I’m home. And it’s also nice to just let loose and have DJing, for example, and kind of nerd out about that with my brother and have fun,” said Morgan, whose her brother is going to Aspen, where they are planning to DJ together at the after-party.
Beyond the music, Morgan also has worked on a YouTube Series called Meet the Morgans, in which her family and snowboarding adventures are on display. Her hometown of Mittenwald, in Bavaria, is also on display and that German heritage, beyond her love for techno music, stays with her wherever she goes.
“I’m very fortunate that I grew up in such a beautiful place, and a cultural place too. I think Mittenwald is such a picture perfect town and I’m so blessed that I got to grow up in a culture like that,” Morgan said. “For example, this year was the first time in like a couple years that we had a beer tent and it was such a big deal, and everybody got dressed up in the Dirndl and the Lederhosen, and it was just so much fun to express that.”
Community and competition
Snowboarding is becoming increasingly competitive, but it wasn’t always that way.
“It’s really nice to just hang out and then you’re also competing against them, but you’re also stoked for them when they land or if they’re on the podium. I feel like it has changed a little bit throughout the years, a bit more competitive with all the new girls coming in. They’re a bit younger and now I feel like I’m super old in the snowboarding circuit, even though I’m not,” she said.
“It’s definitely different than four years ago. There’s also way less snowboarders that I grew up snowboarding with. It’s just more younger kids coming in. I still hope it will be as it was for me, because it was very special and not many sports have that.”
Morgan is a bit more chill now than four years ago. Even if she wants to medal at the X Games and qualify for the Olympics in Milan, the 22-year-old is living in the moment more.
“I’m just soaking it in,” she said. “I don’t have any goals because I don’t like to claim stuff. I don’t like to claim, ‘Oh yeah, I want to win there.’ Because if it doesn’t happen, then I’m just going to be more disappointed.”
Nevertheless, the busy schedule remains. Morgan will be in Aspen for three weeks, for the X Games and the World Cup that follows. Then she’ll have some time off before she goes back to Calgary, Alberta, before the World Cup cycle kicks in again. Wherever she ends up, she’ll be in the air in a way few can imagine.
“You’re just there, floating, and your body’s doing whatever it needs it to do,” said Morgan, when asked what it feels like to be a snowboarder.
“I rely on muscle memory and hope that it works out. It’s not about memorizing stuff for me. It’s just about doing it and hoping for the best outcome.”
Edited by Chuck Penfold
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