Valentino Guselli, 15, professional snowboarder
“I feel like a bird pretty much, like just in the air spinning around...
it feels so good flying”
Photo credit Roby Bragotto
At just 15 years old, Valentino has earned his place as one of Australia’s elite snowboarders and is blitzing it competing in events around the world. He started snowboarding at the small but mighty age of 3 and has been developing his passion for snow sports ever since.
From those early days, Valentino recalls watching his Dad in the snow-jumps area of Mt. Perisher, NSW, and ‘sending’ the big 3rd jump. When Valentino was 7 he hit this jump too, a colossal 23 metre ‘air’ and spent days and days practicing and developing his skills.
“I remember watching other riders and going woah that’s crazy”.
Positivity is a big part of Valentino alongside his optimism and patience. He approaches difficult challenges by putting in hard work and preparation, which helps him to achieve a positive result.
What separates Valentino’s strengths from other athletes however, is the way he can push through the hard times and manage his fear. In his snowboard half-pipe events he can fly up to 6 metres in the air vertically above the ‘pipe’ and 20 metres across as he criss-crosses his way to the bottom.
“The most important thing is just being ready to do the stuff that I want to do. If I have a trick I want to do I make sure I’m 100% ready.”
This readiness is the result of Valentino’s repetitive training, slowly adding complex maneuvers to his aerials and increasing the height he fly’s. By putting in the training he can manage his fear and reduce the danger of competing in this extreme sport.
Valentino describes his biggest achievement as winning the semi-finals at the 2021 Laax Open in Switzerland, competing in the professional adult category rather than the junior category. He went on to finish 8th in the final, but had already stamped his presence on the event.
“It made a statement for me just saying I’m here.”
Success hasn’t come without challenges for Val. What goes up, must come down, and he has had some big crashes resulting in numerous injuries to his elbow, wrist, both shoulders and even a fractured vertebrae in his lower back.
Valentino wants other young people to believe that anything is possible, just like he does.
“If they put the time and effort in and want [success] it, they’ll make it.”