All photos by Oskar Hall and provided by Faction Skis
Matej Svancer is an insanely talented skier.
You wouldn’t bet against him adding an Olympic Gold next month either.
His style, story and personality means that he can’t really be judged by his medal collection alone.
I’ve skied in the Czech Republic maybe three times in my life.
We used to go to Austria a lot, just on ski holidays.
After I finished school in Czech and passed the exams for one in Austria, we moved here.
The main reason we moved wasnt skiing though.
Is your school a normal one or is it a ski school?
Its mostly alpine and nordic combined and its just me and three other freestylers.
There used to be seven or eight of us, thats why my skiing got better and better.
I was just allowed to shred with people in my school.
Are you the only person from your school going to the Olympics?
You switched nationality from Czech to Austrian, in February 2021, was that a difficult decision for you?
Ive been riding with the Austrian ski team for a long time.
I asked them about switching nationality back in 2016, or something like that.
They didnt give me the pass I wanted.
So, I switched from Alpine skiing to freestyle skiing and tried again.
It got complicated and it took another two years, after four or five years I finally got it!
It wasnt such a big decision.
I compete for them and I have a passport, Im full Austrian!
Cool, that makes sense.
So well come to X Games in a minute, but which skiers inspired you when you started freeskiing?
I first looked up to @speedy_freeski_ (Stepan Hudecek).
Hes a good friend of mine and he showed me all of the ski videos.
Then I started looking up to Torin Yater-Wallace and Kai Mahler.
Those were huge idols.
And who/what do you watch now?
I watch a lot of Ferdi and I love watching Daniel Bacher ski.
I still love Kai and thats kind of it.
I do like to combine some of the styles I see, but mainly my own.
I dont want to ride exactly how someone else is.
Maybe mix in a little bit though.
I dont know, I was just kind of sad.
I really enjoyed my time there, but because of COVID, it wasnt THAT dope!
I couldnt really meet the other riders outside of the ski area.
Everyone was a bit scared to get COVID and not to be allowed to go to the Olympics.
It was nice, but I didnt really get the feeling of theX Games.
Maybe it was just me, but I didnt really like the setup.
In your words, what do you think about the situation with Big Air and how you were scored?
Theyre just different tricks.
Not the same trick.
The judges said, they typed 48 for my score.
They gave me 48 for the triple and 48 for the double.
They typed it in, but the system made a mistake because they had typed it in.
I have no idea what the system has to do with judging.
That was why I didnt win.
48 and 48 make 96, so unofficially, I dont know…
If they knew it was a mistake, couldnt they have rescored it?
Its ok when people make mistakes, but they ignored it and didnt say anything.
Its absolutely not the riders responsibility.
The riders have nothing to do with it, it was just an organisational mistake.
Its totally ok to make a mistake, but not to continue on without changing anything.
Ok, well that’s pretty clear cut to us.
It still feels a little bit unreal.
It wasnt even a childhood dream, because I never even thought it would happen!
Its just weird, I dont even know how I got here.
What are you thinking about going into Beijing 2022?
Thats all Ive got in my head right now, nothing else.
Haha ok, will you film in the future?
Ill definitely film some edits.
LittleYouTubeedits, but when theres a project, I probably wouldnt tell anybody, so you wont find out!
Youre focusing on contests right now?
Ill do a few small park edits, no backcountry probably and maybe a little bit of street.
I dont know if Ill get that, Im trying out street and its tough, but its fun.
What made you try that switch quad in Saas Fee?
The switch quad that Wacko did.
How do you think your ski career will change when you finish school?
It might get worse.
As long as I dont see it as a career, itll still be fun.
If I didnt have that, Id be really stressed all the time that Id like crash.
What would you study?
Id like to do something with design, but I dont think Im going to make it.
There was recently a thread on NS; who would win a game of SLVSH, you or Henrik.
What do you have to say about that?
Would you beat him in any aspect?
Nah, I couldnt beat him.
Do you know him?
Yeah, I know him pretty well.
Not the best, but we know each other.
If I come up the hill hes like yo what up?!
We sometimes ski together at the comps.
Id like to shred more with the riders.
Like in Klappen or something would be so dope.
Cool, well good luck in Beijing and enjoy the Nintendo!
Matejs favourite…
Trip:I think Klappen, in April.
I would love to go to Kimbosessions, so much.
Ive been to Klappen for the Junior World Championships.
That was super nice.
Trick:Carved cork 7 blunt.
Track:I dont know if I have a favourite song.
I dont ski with music.
