Did you plan to have a career in competition skiing, since you went to the Freeski Academy?

Oh yeah, for sure. I wanted to make a career out of skiing since I was like 10 years old. But not only in competing—I’ve always wanted to be more than a competition skier.

They say something is in the water in Ruka, there have been so many talented skiers over the years. Who did you look up to back then in the Finnish scene?

Oh yeah, there was plenty of inspiration, I used to look up to Keeshlife crew a lot, and also Nipwits. Guys like Markus Fohr, Antti Ollila, and all the other guys were my favorite, I used to watch all of their movies. Although my biggest inspiration was Tom Wallisch, I was watching his edits on repeat.

You started competing pretty early, right? I remember you from the Europa Cups in 2016 or 2017. Was that your international debut?

I went to the Academy in 2016 when I was 15 myself, and I did my first Europa Cups that season. Yeah, I think we met there for the first time so that was my international debut, as you said.

How big of a hassle is it to get picked by the Finish national team? What are the criteria and when did you make it?

I made the B team first in 2019 and then the A-Team the year after from my Europe Cup results. I’m not sure about the exact criteria for the A-Team, but except for results it’s also based on your potential, motivation, and how coaches see your passion for the sport. I think that plays a big part, at least in my career.

That sounds refreshing since there are a lot of teams who choose their members strictly according to results.

Oh yeah, Finland doesn’t have that many World Cup spots comparing to for example Norway. We tried to give everyone in the A-Team as many chances to compete as possible and we riders were able to decide who goes where according to their feeling for the course etc. I think that was super nice and really uncommon in national teams. I think it tells a lot about how different the national team in Finland is. In the end, if everyone wanted to go to let’s say Silvaplana, the coaches made the call of course.

You were the first person to stomp 2160, yet I’ve heard you don’t like this topic.

I wouldn’t say I don’t like this topic, but I don’t want to be known for that pretty much because that was more of a joke. It feels weird to say it and I don’t want to disrespect anyone who wants to go that way. But the way I did it, it was super ugly. It was only for this spin to win Spring Battle Big Air. I didn’t really care, I just wanted to try it.

You stomped it once. Have you tried it ever since?

Not on snow because I didn’t want to do it the way I did it, it was like switch pencil 1620 into a 540 Safety. The ugliest thing you’ve ever seen. I need a bigger jump or I just need to get better at skiing before trying it again haha.

Do you remember the feeling before the drop-in and after landing it, was it easy or difficult for you?

Well, I don’t want to say it was easy, but I thought I did an 18. When I landed it, I was like, fuck, I need to try it again. But yeah, that was it. I’m all about technicality, don’t get me wrong, but it felt like throwing style out of the window. Of course, people get attracted to the number of spins and first-ever tricks. But I feel like skiing is so much more to me than that, and 21 is not the way I wanna be remembered in the ski scene, to be honest.

Was it this moment that made you realize that you wanted to bring some more flavor to the table? Or did it come naturally?

No, I’ve always thought of style and creativity. But when I did my knee in the Olympic year, that was a nice moment to reflect on my skiing a lot. The whole qualifying season was so stressful, we went to a camp after a camp the whole season. I felt like my skiing got a little lost there, I was thinking about what the judges wanted to see and what the coaches wanted me to do more than how I wanted to ski, but that was like the furthest from the way I wanted to showcase my skiing. And during the rehab, I kind of figured that out and the next season I had to take it a bit more chill, which made my skiing different. I couldn’t do the most technical shit, so I had to get creative and think outside the box more.

You created a movie called “Dream.” How’s filming with Forre and Level 1 compared to competing? Can you even compare it?

Oh, that’s a tough one actually. I like to think of it as a separate thing from comp skiing. I just went to film street for two weeks in Helsinki before coming to this competition trip and I felt super refreshed from filming, it was so different from comp skiing and was so pumped to do comps after that. The people who I was filming with are different and it’s such a different environment for sure.

Is it the direction that you want to move forward in the upcoming years, balance filming with competing?

Oh yeah, for sure. I don’t really want to move away from comp skiing because I actually love it. I love the feeling of competing and challenging myself. But it’s not the only part of skiing that I want to showcase. Filming is so special to me, I’m actually filming for two projects now which I’m really hyped about. And I feel like street skiing or filming, in general, can provide a lot to improve my comp abilities without me even noticing it, it makes me want to do something different on the course as well.

Tell me something about the rooftop gap you hit while filming with Forre. How gnarly was to rodeo 5 it?

It was pretty gnarly. But we actually sessioned that jump with Joona Sipola and Jon Sallinen, we all three did tricks on it and got shots, which was pretty nice. Hitting that alone would have been way, way scarier for sure. And we weren’t just dumb about it, Joona and Arttu Heikkinen built a flat jump in a park and measured how long he could jump with the maximum speed from the winch.  I think it was like 13 meters and the street gap was around 10 meters with at least 1m drop which made it easier to gap.

The measuring sounds super interesting, I had no idea. So that’s why you overshooted.

Oh yeah, but I’d rather overshoot it than undershoot it. But spots like that are nice in a way – whatever happens, you get a shot. You either die and get a shot or land and get a shot.  Some people don’t want skiers to do flips and stuff like that in the streets, but I think that’s my strength as well and I love it. I want to hit big features too, I’ve got some more make-it-or-die spots in my mind, haha.

You haven’t done a lot of street skiing in the past, how does it feel to go out there with the experienced Forre crew?

Yeah, I was just like a rookie at the spot. Joona and Arttu did the whole thing, they knew the spot. I was just there to join and maybe get a shot. Joona was the main guy who organized that, we even had permission to be on the roof. And Joona was the first one to hit it too. So yeah, props to him.

We’re currently at the Red Bull Infinite Lines, and you told me that you’re skiing on powder skis for the first time in your life, is that correct?

Yeah, well I rode them for two laps a couple of weeks ago, so it’s technically not the first time but this time it’s like the first time proper powder skiing with them. I also don’t know if 106mm underfoot counts as a pow ski or if it’s it’s a pow ski just for me. I wanted to get a smaller, let’s say, pow all-round ski because it would have been a shock for me to go with like 120s or something.

Is powder skiing and backcountry freestyle a direction you want to try to push as well?

Yeah, for sure. Maybe I’ll even get more of that this season at Mt. hood. It’s kind of different in a slash or like spring Backcountry. But yeah, for sure, I’d love to ski everywhere.

Sounds cool. Can’t wait to see your projects and can’t wait to see you on the World Cup podium as well. That’s the one thing that’s still missing in your career, right?

Oh yeah, let’s make it happen. Dude, I have a lot of things missing. Still a lot of work to do.

Thanks a lot for your time Kuura. Wishing you all the best.

Thank you!