For Brendan Newby, being ‘sick’ at Beijing 2022 means all is well

There is a language unique to some Winter Olympic events which may not always make sense, such as when Brendan Newby says a poor move in his event, freestyle halfpipe skiing, would "not be sick".

“Sick” in this instance being something they strive for, as in insanely good, or totally awesome.

There is something else about Newby’s event which may only make sense to those who have ever tried it. Critical to success in freestyle halfpipe skiing, it seems, is choosing the right music in advance, each competitor then playing it in their ears throughout their run.

Some things about the Winter Olympics you think you know, other things you get to know. For Newby, affectionately known in his event as Bubba, it’s all part of the experience, and he’s perfectly keen to describe whatever else it is may not make sense.

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At age 25, Beijing will be his second Winter Olympics after PyeongChang 2018, and this time Newby also gets the honour of being Team Ireland's joint flag-bearer for Friday's Opening Ceremony, along with Elsa Desmond, the first-ever Irish competitor in the luge.

Maybe it's that scary feeling that I go for, it's really intimidating. The halfpipe is 22-foot walls, and you're going 15 feet out of it, so that's like 37 feet above the ground

“Four years ago, I got to be the flag-bearer for the closing ceremony, and I thought I’d just peaked out on the coolest thing I could ever do,” he says. “Now it looks like we’re breaking through that peak, going even higher, so I’m super-excited about it, absolutely fired up about it. I’m going to be, ‘maybe we should walk as slow as I can so we can get in there for a while.’”

Ski resort

Speaking via Zoom from the Athletes' Village, Newby isn't actually in Beijing, but Zhangjiakou, a popular Chinese ski resort 180km to the northwest, host venue for certain other events including ski jumping, snowboarding and cross-country skiing. He will head to Beijing on Friday, the opening ceremony happening inside the same Bird's Nest that hosted the 2008 summer Games, then must wait another 13 days before his qualifying run, on February 17th, only getting onto the halfpipe for training and practice the three days previous.

Idleness may well be his biggest fear until then, but once his event does get going, it’s a pure adrenaline rush. Newby has spoken before about his fear of trying out new tricks – freestyle skiing in the halfpipe is judged on “height, turn, technique, and difficulty” – and even with his experience, that’s still the case.

“Maybe it’s that scary feeling that I go for, it’s really intimidating,” he says. “The halfpipe is 22-foot walls, and you’re going 15 feet out of it, so that’s like 37 feet above the ground.

“That can be scary, but it just feels so cool. It’s like when you see skateboarders on a vert ramp and how they land perfectly on a flat wall and pump through the transitions: it’s that same feeling but you’re also going downhill so you feel really like you’re flying through the air. The adrenalin rush is insane.

“Every new trick, it’s not like I go out there blind and think, ‘Oh, I wonder if I try this toss.’ It’s a lot of training through trampolines, rollerblades onto a foam pit. If I ever get to the point where I’m using something new, it’s been months or years in the making to get to that point. It’s almost like high-octane goal-setting, accomplishing. Every trick or run I put down is a goal I want to do for myself. When you do that it’s more than just the adrenaline – it’s the years of hard work that you just fulfil.”

Of the six Team Ireland members in Beijing, Newby is the only one actually born in Ireland (his father Van was a visiting professor of economics at UCC); since age two, home has been Utah. "We all talk about how we're Irish in our own ways, it's cool," he says of his team-mates. "We've all got different routes, all got different stories, but which landed us in the same spot – which I think is pretty cool."

Long walks

He also came close to quitting the sport after 2018, when he finished 22nd, qualification for Beijing made even harder (only the top 24 invited). Long walks with his dog Koda helped convince him to give it another go; which, given where he is now, makes sense.

I like listening to a lot of '90s hip-hop. A Tribe Called Quest has been on my music playlist for competitions a lot. I like smooth jazz to really calm me down at the top for a bit

The other big “dogs” in his life is music, in the ears of most freestyle skiers come competition day. “Yeah, just about everybody. Pretty much everybody has music going and it just gets the right mindset going. The pipe is ice, so when you’re going up, you kind of hear that [tearing] sound and then nothing. If you have something going in your head it keeps you in a flow state, feeling good.

“I like smooth music. I found that if I listen to something heavy like Black Sabbath I would be like just way too stoked, and I would pop way too hard and fall out of the pipe, and it would just not be sick.

“So I like listening to a lot of ’90s hip-hop. A Tribe Called Quest has been on my music playlist for competitions a lot. Biggie [Smalls] is the guy. I like smooth jazz to really calm me down at the top for a bit, if I find I am going a little nuts. Snoop Dogg also has been my favourite for a long time. So I have those going. First run, typically, Gimme the Loot by Biggie. Second run I do Flava in Ya Ear, Bad Boy remix. That’s just a bunch of ’90s big dogs.”

“I imagine it would be a challenge for swimmers. I think we do it because we are trying not to hear distractions and stuff. Every little distraction is time. If you’re setting a trick and you hear some guy in the crowd say ‘that guys totally weird’ or something, you’re going to be not focused on what you need to do mid-air.”

Which may or may not make perfect sense.