When snowboarding started to gain traction in Germany, Noah Vicktor was 369 days old. Of course, it was not foreseeable that the man from Freilassing would one day be among the medal hopes of the Snowboard Germany Association founded on November 22nd, 2002. Nor would those responsible have dreamed that 20 years later they would be looking back on seven Olympic and 25 World Cup medals at an anniversary celebration in a Munich club. Sports director Andreas Scheid, a man from the start, shakes his head almost in disbelief: “We’re number two in the world, we have powerful, professional teams at the start in all disciplines. Who would have thought we could do that back then?”
In 1998, when Olympic snowboard medals were awarded for the first time in the halfpipe, Nicola Thost won gold, four years later no German was in the top ten. In the meantime, they can no longer keep up with the success stories on a usual World Cup weekend: Another podium for Martin Nörl, the overall World Cup winner in boardercross! Second place for Ramona Hofmeister, overall World Cup winner in the racers! Top ten places for Leilani Ettel and Christoph Lechner in the halfpipe!
And it’s not always the same people who are at the top: Sometimes Elias Huber makes a breakthrough, sometimes Cheyenne Loch reports back to the top of the world, and at the start of the season Vicktor, freestyler from WSV Bischofswiesen, flew in fourth place – in front of 20,000 fans at the Big Air in Chur. “I was very motivated because I knew: This is a really blatant event,” he says. The day before he had watched the freeski event and the gigs by KIZ, Busta Rhymes, Deichkind and Kraftklub and knew: “I have to make it to the final here!” It worked: best World Cup placement since the debut in January 2019 – and a jubilation that he will remember: “When you land the trick and drive out at the bottom, you only notice how blatant it is. You don’t even realize that they’re all cheering for you right now. A mega feeling.” And the best motivation for future actions.
The snowboard association was founded in 2002, 20 years later there is no longer a World Cup weekend without a success story
“Noah has arrived at the top of the world, but it’s hard-fought,” says Michael Dammert, who is responsible for freestyle disciplines at Snowboard Germany. Vicktor made the experience at the World Cups in Edmonton and Copper Mountain: With places 42 and 26, he missed the final of the top ten, as did team colleague Leon Vockensperger (SC Rosenheim), who finished in 19th and 36th place. Results that Dammert classifies as follows: “Vocki is slowly coming back. In Edmonton he just missed the final. We played it safe there so that he didn’t get injured again. He already had two shoulder injuries that year. We’ll go all the way Deliberately slowly, keyword athlete’s health.” Slopestyler Annika Morgan and pipe rider André Höflich also get a strategic break in the direction of the World Championships in February: “As a trainer, you sometimes have to dare to do that,” says Dammert, “Breaks and regeneration are also part of a long-term career.” Something like that should be said to the schedulers of handball and basketball players.
At the age of eight, Vicktor realized that the board excites him more than the skis, when he began to emulate the YouTube videos of the Norwegian Torstein Horgmo: “He wrote history early on. This individuality! That motivated me to live the same life. Be motivated by the big ones and make something of your own: That’s the cool thing about snowboarding. You’re the master of your run – that’s unique. We have a very special sport.”
And if you listen to the national coach, this young man is also quite special: “Noah is almost a low-key. Not a showman, but a modest, reasonable, responsible person. Strength lies in calm – but then he knocks you out. ” During autumn training in the Stubai he “learned the 18”, says Dammert, “five screws: about a dozen people can do that. He’s not so sure about it that he would have shown it in the competition. That’s the hope, that it’s time for the World Cup.” It would be the culmination of a long-cherished plan: “Noah has been with us for ten years and is one of the first to have gone through this program from an early age.” It’s been around in the halfpipe for a long time, in slopestyle only since it became Olympic in 2014.
“Somehow you have to stand out. That’s tough.” – Noah Victor.
(Photo: Oliver Lerch/Gepa Pictures/Imago)
Since then, the scene has developed rapidly. “It’s getting tighter and tighter,” says Vicktor, “more and more people can do the same tricks. Somehow you have to stand out. It’s tough.” The reason for the power density are air bags, inflatable giant air cushions that make the sometimes breakneck acrobatics safer. There isn’t a single one of this kind in Germany, so the boarders commute from the base in Berchtesgaden to a facility in Scharnitz: 200 kilometers there, 200 back.
The association has been fighting for the few square meters of plastic for six years, and it should be ready in the spring. The air cushion costs 150,000 euros, with earth movements around one million is due. Finding a location is also more complex than you might think, says the national coach. At the Götschen base, farmers vetoed the idea: it disturbed the cows. And who is liable if a cow destroys the pillow? Now a place has been found at the ski boarding school, next to the trampoline hall and the skateboard park. Dammert’s vision: “With this air cushion we could make the sport more suitable for the masses.”
The air bag comes too late for Noah Vicktor. “It would have been mega for him, because he’s made a giant step since he finished school,” says Dammert. At 16, Vicktor left high school with a high school diploma and went to the state police to concentrate on sports. Dammert: “Noah is a thinker, very structured. ‘If I still graduate from high school, the train has left.’ That was a sticking point. He had a long way to school, was constantly ill, just not that fit.” And now? Can’t get enough.
After the Olympics, the association gave the athletes a long break from training – and what did Vicktor do? Went to New Zealand on his own with teammate Leon Gütl – to train with his buddy. “A flagship friendship,” enthuses the coach, “they’ve known each other since they were little.” When they used to ride together in the European Cup, they always came first and second – and they took turns doing it.
At the Olympics, Gütl was Vicktor’s reserve driver and personal coach. “I can lean back because the two do each other so much good,” says Dammert. You really don’t have to worry about Noah Vicktor. At 21, he outlines his career goal as follows: “Get the best out of yourself. No matter how good you can drive at the events: If you’re not satisfied with your own performance, it won’t do you any good either.”
