If you are good enough at something, you can usually make money from it, one way or another.
1. Tell us about your background and journey.
I Grew up in an old ski town and therefore skiing was just a natural way of life. Like all kids those days I got into ski racing but by the age of 17 I did my first and only FIS ski race and was more or less over it.
The coaches and parents took all the fun out of skiing and it was all about chasing 100th of a second, the soul was gone.
So I had a break, went to school and didn't find my way back to skiing until a few years later when some friends invited me to come along on a freeride competition. It was just for fun and the format was more or less, "ski as cool of a line as you want" and they judge you on it.
I fell for my first two events but I was still hooked. Mostly because of the welcoming community and the notion that it was all about having fun but still competing.
2. How did you get introduced to Skiing?
Like I said, growing up in a ski town makes skiing as natural as walking so I don't even remember. Everyone skied where I'm from.
3. How did you decide to make your passion your career? Was your family supportive?
I noticed that I was starting to do well in competitions, asked older sponsored riders how to go about the whole thing and they showed me the ropes. How your passion can turn into your job is a very interesting one, it seems like if you are good enough at something, you can usually make money from it, one way or another.
For me it was at first just a way for me to be able to ski more, I didn't set out to make a living of it, that sort of just happened along the way. My family was very supportive, I think dad was very happy to see me find the passion again after all those years we put into my training together, kind of a "pay out" so it wasn't for nothing.
4. How did you balance your personal life amidst training ?
The great thing about sports like this is that your passion, personal life and professional life are one and the same. If i didn't do this for a living, i would still do it so that part is easy.
The romantic relationship can of course be hard if you are gone a lot but i'm in luck and have a wife who shares this passion with me 100%.
5. What is the level of commitment and time required to make a sport a career?
Time is everything, you have to put in those famous 10.000h at least and probably had to do the sport since you were a child. In my particular sport, the commitment is not that heavy, like I said before, I would do this regardless but of course it helps to set up goals and keep to it.
The bigger side is the business side of it, chasing sponsors and creating projects. We don't have a federation behind us in freeride so we pretty much do all of it ourselves.
6. Tell us about your experience in the Freeride World Tour.
Where to begin, it's been a wild ride with a lot of changes over the years. I got into the sport in its second year and am now the longest running competitor with 13 seasons under my belt.
Before the tour there wasn't any real "cup" to compete on, there was loosely put together individual competitions that was for sure a lot of fun but with the FWT we got a much bigger stage and new possibilities to promote yourself as professional skiers.
I would say I owe my whole career to the FWT and it has been a ton of fun over the years and where we as riders have dictated the development of the sport while the FWT took care of the business side. They truly did an amazing job. Met a lot of cool people and seend a lot of great places.
7. What has been your biggest challenge that you faced and how did you overcome that?
I've been lucky and haven't had many challenges more than anyone in that sense. My dad passed away a few years ago and that hit me pretty hard and I had a hard time finding back to myself, and that is just time. Of course we also lose friends in the mountains and that always makes you think. But you put the blinders on and hope that it won't happen to you, even though we all accept the risks we take.
8. What are your greatest achievements in this field ?
I would say my three wins at Xtreme Verbier stands out for me, the single hardest and most prestigious competition out there. And of course my 2012 World championship title.
9. How can we encourage more youngsters to take up sports as a full time profession?
I never try to do that, passion needs to come first. If you truly love what you are doing and have a talent for it, the professional part will come. It's a hard one to recommend to people to pursue. Like trying to be a music star, cool if you can but maybe its a good idea not to put all eggs in that basket.
10. Which is your favourite book and why?
Conn Iggulden, Emperor series. I don't know, maybe it's something with my interest in history and with well researched novels like these you can immerse yourself more in historical events even though it is partly fiction. It comes more to life that way.
- Reine Barkered
Reine Barkered is a professional big mountain skier and Freeride world tour champion.
Born and raised in Åre, Sweden he has been in the ski industry his entire life and has had it as a full time career for over a decade.
Known for consistency and a passion for the development of the sport, Barkered is now the longest running competitor on the FWT. and has no plans of slowing down.
- Instagram: Reine Barkered
- Facebook: Reine Barkered
- Interviewed By Pearlina Marie Rein
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