Luca managed to find time in his busy contest schedule to chat to NS.
Obviously, youre the latest Kiwi superstar, but why do you have an American accent?
Haha, both my parents are actually American.
My dads from New Hampshire and my moms from New York.
Does that mean that you started out as a mogul skier?
We actually just started as freeride skiers.
My dad brought us over to Cardrona and got us into the park scene.
So, who were your favorite skiers growing up?
Thats a tough one.
There are so many.
Gus Kenworthy, Andreas Hatveit, Nick Goepper, and then of course the Wells brothers.
There have been so many influential skiers just from watching the old ski movies.
Have you had a chance to meet any of them?
Yeah, these past few years have been absolutely crazy.
Meeting some of my idols and skiing with them and Im very grateful for that.
Did you have any particularly memorable moments meeting them?
Not necessarily when I met them, but Jossi Wells has been a huge inspiration.
It was just such an honor to be at X Games that week.
I just wanted to make the most of it.
I was like wow!
Thats a dream come true!
I had no expectations though; I just wanted to enjoy every moment and ski the best I could.
Well, congrats on both!
That was definitely the scariest trick Ive ever attempted or even thought about doing.
I believe in you, youve got this!
Ive never been in such a state of mind before dropping into a trick before.
I was pretty excited to land, as you could probably tell!
So, what did Birk say to you?
He looked at me in the eyes, he gave me the confidence dude youve got this.
You know exactly what you better do.
You just did the 19 perfectly, just hold the grab and keep looking around.
He just gave me that hype and confidence.
His belief in me was amazing.
It was a big week for big spins: how far do you think we can go with rotations?
You know, its hard to say.
When the 16 was first evolved, nobody thought that wed ever get past that.
Now theres people doing 2340s.
Were in the same kind of boat, where were unsure if well be able to push past that.
Which is scary to think about.
What do you say to people who are anti-spin-to-win and want to progress the sport in other ways?
Thats why its called freestyle!
Everyone can do what they want, everyones unique in their own way.
I think its amazing that freestyle skiing and Slopestyle/Big Air isnt necessarily moving in a straight line.
Were expending in width as well.
Its not just rotation and adding that next 180.
Its getting creative with grabs, getting creative with the pretzels.
I think that theres a lot of potential there once we start figuring that out.
Itll be tough, but I think thatll be the next big thing and the best thing.
Its really cool to see a 900 be able to score as much as an 18 or a 19.
Take all ideas of judging and contests out of the equation: what are your favorite tricks to do?
Haha its so hard to say one specific trick.
Its definitely hard to say.
And do you have a particular trick youve seen someone else do thats most memorable?
Itll always be Henriks nosebutter triple 16 at X Games [2013].
Watching that on TV was incredible.
It changed freeskiing forever.
It changed the limits of what we could do.
It got me extremely hyped as a little grom!
watching Bobby Browns triple 14 was one of the most memorable big tricks ever put down.
Your generation, the Olympics has kind of always been a thing for you in freeskiing.
whereas older freeskiers have often stuck with X Games has been with us from day one kind of stuff.
How do you compare the two?
Olympics Vs X Games?
I think theyre both unique in their own way.
To be honest, as a freestyle skier, I think X Games is more monumental to us.
Ok, so nevermind which contest; do you prefer Big Air or Slopestyle?
Um…I dont prefer either.
I like them both very evenly.
I like how you might express yourself in Slopestyle a lot more throughout the run.
Not for anyone else, just for myself.
I like how Big Air gives me that opportunity to really push and learn a lot.
I definitely find Big Air easier, with only having to focus on one jump.
you’ve got the option to just stand at the top and imagine yourself doing that one trick.
Your brother Ben skied halfpipe in the Olympics!
Haha, what is with NZ skiing bros?!
Something in the water down in Wanaka!
Theyre the next level and it is crazy how many brothers have come out of a small town!
Do you all know each other and ski together?
We all grew up skiing together.
Actually, Finn Bilouss mother delivered me as a baby!
Which is a crazy fact!
Are you doing any filming this year?
Benni and I have a little project were doing with Monster Army.
Just following the comp scene and what it is to be a competitive skier.
I think thats the next step for me, so Im excited for that!
Credit: X Games
Other than that youll just continue the contests?
Yeah, obviously the big dream is to make this Olympics, which Im tracking pretty well towards doing.
Thatll be a good show for the people and Im excited to see what happens there.
