You’ve won nearly everything now so the only thing left would be… Slopestyle at the Olympics. It would be nice, but it’s not easy. I don’t feel the pressure to get more medals. I’m enjoying the competitions way more now than I ever did, if the conditions are good. I don’t care that much about the outcome; I care more about my own riding. It’s fun to see the progression and to be part of it and maybe now I’m in a different role than when I started. Now I’m actually one of the older—or the oldest—that’s still competing, and I enjoy that. I like giving advice and taking the younger riders under my wing because you and the other girls did that for me. That’s a really special thing that has been passed on through women in snowboarding. It was passed to me through Leanne [Pelosi] and Janna [Meyen] and Kimmy [Fasani] and all these women that were so supportive when I was young. It’s special that you’re doing it as well because it’s going to carry on into the next generation of girls. It’s more important now that it has become more team-focused and sport-like. That’s also the thing with the Future Queens Session that I’m doing [in Flachauwinkl, Austria]—it’s so cool to get young girls together from different nations with no coaches around to have fun together. Those friendships hold through their snowboard careers. It makes me so happy to watch them supporting each other after spending a week together just shredding. Anna warming up for the contest season in Saas-Fee, Switzerland, this past October. Photo: Frederik Kalbermatten Building on Future Queens, you’ve had two young girls, Noelle Jamnig and Hanna Karrer, with you at the Hintertux opening. Can you tell me a little bit about your relationship with them? For a long time in Austria, we didn’t have young girls coming up. Even before me, there were never Austrian contest riders. I want to help them, and I know they are looking up to me. They actu-ally have a picture with me from when they were 8 or 9 years old. It’s an honor for me to help them. This is a little away, but Grilo [Marko Grilc, who died in a 2021 snowboarding accident], he always stayed relevant because he helped the younger generation. He’s my role model because even though he was already mid-30s, he would shred with the young kids and hype them up. He helped me and Clemens when we were younger and if I can pass on some passion or advice to the younger generation, I want to do that. ANNA GASSER 077
The Snowboarder's Journal The Snowboarder's Journal 21.4: Page 77
