Big mountain skier Matt Sweet is the latest addition to Volkl NZ’s stable of athletes for the 2019 season.
“I'm really excited about working with Volkl. As a skier in NZ I looked up to the likes of Sam Smoothy and Fraser McDougall from a young age, watching them send unbelievable stuff in front of me up the hill. To be skiing for the same company as them is a real privilege and I can't wait to see where it takes me in the future.”
Originally from the Waikato, Matt, 20, has been based down south for a number of winters. He started with race training before tackling his first freeride event at the age of 15,
going on to compete in the Junior Chill series before moving onto the Freeride World Qualifiers Circuit in Europe and America and earning a spot on the NZ Freeride team in 2017.
Basing himself in Verbier, Switzerland, for the last northern winter he placed 6th in the Kappl 3* in Austria and 3rd in the Kirkwood Freeride Open.
“My goal since I started competing has been to win the Freeride World Tour. However, going back further than that my dream as a child was to be one of the skiers ripping Alaskan lines in a ski movie, so I would be very happy to achieve either of those in my lifetime.”
An engineering student at Canterbury University, Matt will be graduating next year and hopes to have qualified for the tour so he can go straight into the competition after receiving his degree.
“First and foremost, I have always found freeride to be the most fun sport in the world. As long as I can remember, all I've wanted to do is ski, I've always felt a strong urge to try to be the best at it. Naturally, this led me down the avenue of competing in freeride.”
He says he’s pretty thrilled to be part of the Volkl crew.
“I first won a pair of Volkl Confessions at the 2018 Mount Olympus Freeride Open, I took them to Europe unmounted as a backup ski in case anything was to happen to my current ones. I ended up getting them mounted over there and immediately fell in love with them, making them my number one ski for competing. I got back to New Zealand and couldn't wait for the chance to tell Volkl NZ about my experience with their skis. I am proud to say that I started skiing on Volkl's purely because I loved their skis. I am fortunate enough that I can now represent this brand as a skier.”
Matt has also recently been impressed by the Mantra 102 thanks to a loan from “Volkl Central” AKA Racers Edge ski shop in Wanaka, and is looking forward to some decent snowfalls to test it on some serious alpine terrain.