Marcus Kleveland talks about overcoming injury and his keys to success.

Marcus Kleveland has emerged as one of the world’s best snowboarders in the last five years with the Norwegian’s thrilling mix of Big Air and Slopestyle tricks seeing him win global gold medals.



Marcus Kleveland: What we learned – the headlines
– Born: 25 April 1999, Lillehammer, Norway
– Height: 172cm Weight: 65kg
– Started snowboarding at three and aged 13 became the youngest rider to land a triple cork
– Breakout moment was at X Games Aspen in 2017, going in as a rookie and winning Slopestyle, and coming 2nd in Big Air.
– Biggest disappointment was failing to medal at 2018 Olympics

Doctors feared he would never snowboard again after he shattered his kneecap on a rail while training in Breckenridge, Colorado in December 2018
“It was one of the worst pains that I ever imagined was possible. I just knew something was terribly wrong when I hit.”

Marcus spent four weeks in a wheelchair, two months on crutches and it took 11 months to recover his form
“My biggest achievement was definitely getting back on my board after the accident. I was told that I might not ever snowboard again. I only had one goal and that was just to get back to snowboarding. Just coming back from injury feels incredible but then last year was the best season I’ve ever had.”

His biggest fear is flat light – and spiders
“Flat light messes up your visual. It’s hard to focus on the landing, you can’t see anything and you don’t want to land on your back, your head – you just want to get down to the bottom without injuries. I also hate big spiders.”

Marcus can’t ride without music and listens to artists like Travis Scott, Don Toliver, the Weeknd but, when he’s in the air, the music stops
“I can’t ride a contest nowadays without music, I need music. It really gets you into the mood to ride. It’s kind of weird because whenever you drop in, you hear the music and then on the first rail or first feature it just goes away. You can’t hear anything because you’re so focused and you don’t hear the music until you land again.”

His first Olympics appearance was in 2018, but the experience was intimidating and it didn’t go to plan
“That was definitely a disappointment not to podium as all the competitions leading into the Olympics the last time felt really good and I felt super comfortable. But at the same time, I was kind of young. The Olympics is so big and there’s a lot of people watching. I put a lot of pressure on myself, but you just got to treat it as a normal contest. I’m heading into the Olympics now with a way better mindset. We’ll see how it goes.”

Reaching peak performance is hard, but it doesn’t only come from training – it comes from chilling, and 10 hours of sleep a night
“I’m not really fit. I never really go to the gym and don’t feel the need to do weights and everything. [Besides snowboarding] I only skateboard or jump trampoline. I basically learned all my tricks at a trampoline. I feel like that’s the only thing that helps me get better at snowboarding. I also need 10 hours of sleep a night to take care of the body.”

His other loves are gaming and cars…
“Gaming gives me the same joy as snowboarding. I got a Red Bull F1 simulator and I spend a lot of time in that one. Also, I play Call of Duty Warzone. I used to play a lot of Fortnite as well. I just love playing with my friends. I would also definitely try to pursue driving if I didn’t have snowboarding, either a Formula 3 or 1. I love cars!”

Marcus is one of the few people who wishes he spent more time at school
“I don’t really feel like I’ve done a lot of sacrifices but the one down part is travelling. The last year that I went to school, I missed a lot. Thinking back to it now, I would love to have been more at school – just being with friends. (I was a really good kid. I never got into trouble, but I was terrible at math.) With travelling, you do need to put your friends and family a little bit on the side. You reflect on that sometimes when you’re out travelling, like you see them having fun, like doing something in school that looks great or fun or partying or something and you’re like, ‘Yeah, I kinda want to be there too’.”

If he only has one day left on planet earth, Marcus is going to spend it gaming, eating good food, driving around and learning new tricks
“I’d definitely spend a couple hours of gaming, and then eating really good food like my mom’s home cooked toten kjøttkaker. I don’t know what it’s called in English, but it’s like, meatballs and brown sauce with potatoes and macaroni and it’s so good. I’d drive around with friends and nice cars and have a nice day on the hill for sure, learning new tricks and everything. Yeah. And then get back home and then just game more.”