Three things Matti Suur-Hamari does off the snow

Finnish Para snowboarder Matti Suur-Hamari is coming off a very successful 2015-16 season, where he won the overall men’s SB-LL2 World Cup.

As he gears up for the start of the new season, the IPC Snowboard World Cup in Landgraaf, the Netherlands, from 17-18 November, the flying Fin shared what he does when he is not on the snow.

BMX, biking

“In the BMX racing course, it’s pretty similar to the snowboard course, so there’s the same kind of obstacles in the course. So it’s really good training for the snowboard cross. I’ll do that with the BMX bikes and the motor-board.”

Metal concerts

“Before my snowboarding career, I was working in the music industry, like touring with the bands. So I like all kind of music, but most of the time I listen to metal.

“I’m kind of a metal head. My favorite bands are A Perfect Circle, Slayer, and from Scandinavia, the Ghost. It is a pretty new band. I think it’s coming to the States.”

Enjoying nature walks

“Another thing I like to do outside of training is hiking in the woods, fly fishing, stuff like that in the north of Finland. There’s lots of rivers around, so I’m just hiking in the woods, find a river.

“It’s nice, because I don’t have to think about any training things, and I can just pray to nature, and, do fly fishing. That’s the way when I’m relaxing.”

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Around 80 Para athletes from 25 countries will travel to Big White for the 2017 World Para Snowboard Championships to compete in both snowboard-cross and banked slalom events in men’s and women’s SB-UL, SB-LL1 and SB-LL2 classifications between 1-8 February.