Snowboarder Kristian Moen: work hard, dream big

“I didn’t think I was going to make it. It’s been a surprising result especially because training didn’t go so well. It’s been a great honour for me to win such a medal and to set a national first”.

After winning silver in snowboard-cross at the 2015 IPC Snowboard World Championships, Norwegian teenager Kristian Moen plans to capitalise on his early success and reach the podium at the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Paralympic Games.

Moen, who started snowboarding when he was only eight-years-old, is thinking big after winning his country’s first para-snowboard World Championships medal in March.

“My goal is to qualify for the 2018 Paralympics, my dream is to win a medal,” the 15-year-old said. “I know the competition will be hard but I’m going to do what it takes in order to be there and achieve my goals.”

Moen’s father Lars is the inspiration behind his success. He was passionate about the sport and decided to take his son to the slopes for the first time. They practised together until Moen improved and began to train with Oslo based Funkis Snowboard Club.

“I started training with people with physical impairments and I was immediately ranked higher than anyone else. At this point I got a coach who helped me improve and asked me if I wanted to compete,” Moen explained.

After a long period of training, Moen competed for the first time at Ridderweek, an annual winter sports event for people who are visually and physically impaired.

But that was nothing compared to his podium finish in the men’s snowboard-cross SB-LL1 at La Molina 2015.

“I didn’t think I was going to make it. It’s been a surprising result especially because training didn’t go so well. It’s been a great honour for me to win such a medal and to set a national first”.

Moen has just finished secondary school and will soon begin high school, where he aims to focus on sports and compete in many more competitions, including IPC Snowboard World and Europa Cups. However, before that, he has a very busy summer ahead.

“I’m going to work a lot this summer giving all the best as I always do,” he said. “I will be training at Juvass glacier on Scandinavia's highest mountain and I am also going to camp with the Dutch team at the Italian Alps to see how we go up against each other. Hopefully, I will also be training in France in order to get ready for next season”.

Moen hopes to bring para-snowboard into the mainstream in Norway, and the youngster has already thought about what opportunities there might be.

“I have already talked with my coaches about the Youth Olympic Games [in Lillehammer] and I’d love to get involved somehow,” he said. “However, in 2016 the Norwegian capital Oslo will also be home of a Winter X Games event. They have para-snowboarding competitions and I’d love to snowboard there”.

With PyeongChang 2018 less than three years away, Moen shows an incredibly maturity which will surely see him rise to the top in the future.

The 2015-16 IPC Snowboard calendar will be published shortly.