Hood River snowboarder brings Oregon style to Olympics
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Hood River local Sean FitzSimons will be soaring in the Olympics again this year. Photo: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
Born and raised in Hood River, Olympic snowboarder Sean FitzSimons was carving turns on Mount Hood almost as soon as he could walk.
The big picture: Now he'll bring the skills he learned on the rails and jumps at Timberline and Mt. Hood Meadows to the big air and slopestyle courses at Livigno Snow Park, outside Cortina, Italy.
Catch up quick: FitzSimons, 25, strapped on skis while still a toddler, but he started skateboarding at age 5 and transitioned to full-time snowboarding by the time he was 8.
- His competitive nature grew out of a sibling rivalry with his brother, Tucker — each pushing the other to try new tricks on the mountain and on skate ramps in their backyard in Hood River.
- FitzSimons, known as "Bon" to his teammates, started riding in contests at age 9 and steadily rose up the ranks before getting invited to join the U.S. Snowboard Pro Team in 2019.
Flashback: His breakout moment came in 2022, when he secured his first World Cup victory at the Laax Open in Graubünden, Switzerland.
- That first place finish secured him a spot in the 2022 Winter Olympics in China, where he qualified for the slopestyle final and finished 12th.
Between the lines: FitzSimons has never been shy about his hometown pride.
- Scroll through his Instagram feed and you'll find him launching 180s over trees on Mount Hood, decked out in a custom Blazers jersey with his name on the back and the caption "Rip City forever."
- FitzSimons spent much of 2024 recovering from a broken pelvis. After a podium finish last year at a U.S. Grand Prix event, he told reporters it had "been a long road coming back from injury."
- "Shout-out Oregon," he added. "I better see that in the article."
The latest: FitzSimons knows the stage is bigger in the Olympics, but he's "treating it like every other contest," he said at a Tuesday press conference.
- That means listening to Metallica and Alice in Chains before each run and recognizing what it took to get to the games.
- "I'm so lucky to be in this position, to be here, representing the United States," he said. "The pressure is a privilege."
What's next: Big air qualifiers get underway Thursday at 10:30am local time, with slopestyle qualifiers kicking off at 5am Feb. 16.
Both events will be broadcast by NBC or streamed on Peacock.