Recently praised by Mikaela Shiffrin for his ‘beautiful skiing’, the American considers his sport as a form of art: “My endeavour as an athlete is artistic expression,” he said in an exclusive interview.
6 minBy Alessandro Poggi
River RADAMUSAlpine Skiing
After his best season to date on the elite alpine skiing circuit, River Radamus feels he has some unfinished business.
In the post-Olympic season, the American has continued his progress in the sport by clinching three top-10 finishes on the World Cup stage. But it was early this February, at Beijing 2002, that he claimed his best career result, missing an Olympic medal in giant slalom by less than three tenths of a second.
“I think last season was a huge stepping stone for me,” the 24-year-old said in exclusive interview with Olympics.com in October.
“I went from sort of being on the fringes to being in the event - is how I would say. And obviously the Olympics being fourth place, it stinks. But had you told me a year before that I would be in that position, I wouldn't have believed you.”
In 2019, Radamus won two junior world titles. With a further taste of the top, he can see the silver lining even in a ‘wooden’ medal:
“Obviously, Beijing was bittersweet for me. I think I performed up to my potential in that race. You know, I made mistakes all over the place on second run. And I can look at those and think, 'Oh, if only I had cleaned those up, I would have walked away with a medal.'
“But the reality is that I put myself in the position to be there by taking the risks I did. If had I skied safe and avoided those mistakes, I wouldn't have been in fourth place to begin with. So I believe that my skiing is at the level where I can compete with those guys on a daily basis, and I can push for those medals and compete against the very best. But, you know, I still have to prove it. I haven't been there with those guys. I haven't gotten a medal yet. And so I'm still very hungry for that.”
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Radamus: My love for beautiful skiing
Radamus was recently described by Mikaela Shiffrin as “one of the most beautiful skiers” she’d ever seen.
The two-time Olympic champion, who knows River well for the time they spent together at the Vail Ski Club in Colorado, praised his teammate’s “natural feel for skiing and the snow," noticing how over the years “he has really progressed his technique.”
The Colorado native blushed when Shiffrin's compliment was passed on to him: “That's very kind. That's high praise. Obviously, she is one of the titans of our sport. So hearing her say those sort of things about me is very kind.”
He then admitted how Shiffrin’s words aptly reflect the way he feels about the sport:
“I think of myself as a skier first and a ski racer second,” he said.
“I love what I do and I'm in the sport because I love it. But all of that passion comes from the little kid who was taking laps on the slope just trying to push his limits. And I think that that's still something I hold dear to myself today.
“I love beautiful skiing. I love the power of skiing particularly GS (giant slalom), that's what I've been drawn to, you know, and I fell in love with it, watching Ted Ligety and Bode Miller and the American greats that just absolutely pushed the limits of not only what they are capable of, but what their equipment was capable of. And those absolute limits of edge angle (of the ski). And so that's something that I still love to do. I have to balance that with the nature of where our sport's going and hone my technique to accommodate that. But I still love high-edge angles and I still love skiing and feel in the skis first and foremost.”
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Radamus: Showing my artistry on and off the skis
Radamus is not the typical ski racer focused just on the technicalities of the sport.
His artistic and creative side takes form in his colourful hair stylings, the vintage sweaters he wears and his love for captivating images.
“My artistic expression goes far beyond what I do on skis,” he said.
The three-time Lillehammer 2016 Youth Olympics individual gold medallist recently became obsessed with a new AI art generator called Mid Journey and used that to create skiing art: “It's really fascinating to me. It's just endless possibilities. You put it in a prompt and it spits out a completely new image that no one's ever seen before. Based on styles of anything on the Internet.”
And also skiing can be a form of art: “I think that my endeavour as an athlete is artistic expression,” he explained.
“My love for skiing comes from what I think is the beautiful feeling of powerful skiing turns, you know? I think that that is my predominant artistic expression. And, you know, I am appreciator of all things skiing, whether, you know, my discipline or free skiing or the history of skiing. And I think that it's all beautiful and all is sort of a culmination of where I'm at in my sport today. You have to pay homage to the generations before and the artistic expression that's been laid out before.”
Radamus: I’m hungry for more
After a summer spent working out in the gym and surfing waves in Fiji, the American feels recharged and stronger than he’s ever been.
Will be this the season of his first World Cup podium?
“The reality is that no one can be confident to podium in any race,” he explained.
“The level of competition here is so high, obviously (Marco) Odermatt dominated last year, but there are so many elite GS skiers in every single race that you have to get lucky to podium and to win. And I recognise that I haven't been there. I haven't done that yet, but it's not, you know, it's not just a matter of time.
“All I can control is making sure that every single day I go out on the training hill: if I prepare as hard as I possibly can, I know that I outwork my competition and push myself to the limits.”
This new mindset also translates into a new approach to expectations: “I can appreciate the growth I had, but I'm still hungry for more,” he reflected.
“I've realised over these last couple of years that focussing on the outcome is not a positive thing for me. It hinders my progress. Now all I'm doing is putting everything I can into preparation and let whatever happens in the race happen.”
