Meet Olympic hopeful snowboarder Joey Okesson

SOUTHBURY, Conn. — Can you imagine being the youngest competitor trying to make the U.S. Olympic Snowboard Team? Southbury resident, Joey Okesson, knows the challenges of the journey.

The Rigors of Training
Joey trains with the same group year-round, seven guys on U.S. Ski Team (of which Joey is a member), including 5-time Olympian, Shawn White, and three others who are past Olympians. In the last few months, Joey spent a considerable amount of time in the air and just not when practicing in the halfpipe. He traveled to Europe during October and November where the glaciers were open and spent four weeks in Switzerland for “pure training.” During a two-week break, he and his fellow competitors went to Spain for some beach time and fun in the sun. From Spain he went straight to Austria for more halfpipe time. After ten days of high-intensity training, Joey flew back to the U.S. and landed just in time to celebrate Thanksgiving with his family.

Olympic Preparation
There were four qualifier competitions for the Olympic team, two held in December 2021 and two in January 2022. Some of Joey’s competitors being previous Olympians made the challenge to earn one of only four spots even tougher.

The 2021 Toyota U.S. Grand Prix – FIS World Cup Freeski & Snowboard Halfpipe event at Copper Mountain, Colorado was the first competition in December and one of the four U.S. Olympic halfpipe snowboard qualifying events. It was Joey’s first time going through an Olympic cycle. With 43 competitors at the event, Joey was confident with his game plan. “It was a fluke” that he wasn’t able to land a trick he consistently hits (a front side 900), on either run causing him to wipeout both times.

“I was very disappointed with my disqualification. Generally, I was overthinking. It was my last run. I wanted to take my line up the wall, and didn’t want to run out of halfpipe. Other than that I was riding really well so it was really a bummer.”

Then came the Dew Tour, another Olympic qualifying event. There were about 20 competitors invited from the World Snowboard Ranking list, all performing freestyle. The first-ever triple flip was completed that same day. Joey had learned a new trick last fall in Switzerland, a backside double-cork 1260, which he hadn’t done too often but he “practiced, landed it, and made it to the finals!”

In preparation for the January competitions, Joey trained at Okemo Mountain with some old snowboarding friends. He drove home New Year’s Day, flew to Reno on January 3, then drove to Mammoth Lakes to practice for two days before he competed in a field of about 35 on the 7th with the finals held the following night.

“I’ve only competed under lights three times but I really like it, as long as the lighting definition on the walls is good. Boarding at night, the snow is illuminated differently. I like it better.”

The second competition in January was the Laax Open in Switzerland, with approximately 42 competitors, most coming from the US, Japan, Switzerland, Australia, China, and South Korea. There were also a few competitors from Germany, Canada and Brazil.

Picking His Line
Visualization helps when Joey’s putting a run together, mapping out his tricks. He sees how he’s going to land off one wall, then go to the next wall to perform the next trick.

“I know when to pop, where to look after the first flip, then the second flip. Every time I do it, I get more comfortable. The more I can see it in my head, the easier I can replicate it when I’m in the pipe.”

Joey “tries to not think” when he snowboards. He lets his body take over because “it knows what to do.” When he overthinks, it leads to falling. When he doesn’t think, that’s when the best things happen.

“Living in the moment, being in flow. When the competition is high and you can be in “it” you can do extraordinary things. That’s what I love.”

Attitude of Gratitude
“It was such a huge honor to have the opportunity to compete against the best in the world to make the US Olympic Team. I’m blessed to be able to live the life that I do.”

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