Vic Wild, 35 

Snowboard Parallel Slalom, Parallel Giant Slalom 

Trained with Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club, competes for Russia 

What lessons and experience have you gained from attending the Olympics previously, and winning gold?   

Competing at the Olympics came with a lot of amazing experiences and lessons learned. Maybe the most important is to enjoy the journey and experiences along the way. As I come to the end of my career I do sometimes wish that I would have taken it all in a bit more often. 

How did your time training with the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club affect your career path? 

I came to Steamboat in my teenage years, and I was super nervous, awkward and naive. For the first time I had no one to hide behind, no family to lean on for support, I felt naked. I was terrified to go to school or to even get on the bus to go to training everyday. Fortunately there was one thing I truly wanted and that was to be the best snowboard racer possible. As silly as that might sound, that simple goal gave me the courage to get over my fears and keep showing up to Steamboat each winter. It took years but eventually being comfortable with being uncomfortable became par for the course. The snowboard team was made up of older and quite different types of people which forced me to grow up quick – looking back on it now, I am grateful for that. 

From a training standpoint, in what ways has competing for Russia differed from competing for the U.S.?  

Competing for Russia was a sink or swim situation – I learned everything I needed from Thedo Remmelink in Steamboat Springs. Russia was just an opportunity to show my potential.