Photo by Ethan Stone

Last Saturday I managed to grab a word with Jesper Tjäder at the top of the Swatch Nines course. We talked about his style and why he'll never change it. He mentioned a Red Bull project he'd drop this week - by now you've probably seen the Open Loop video- and it's very 'Jesper Tjäder' - but he also gives some advice to X Games and mentions that he's dropping a street project...

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Hi Jesper, so how was your season?

It was a great season. I started with some contests, I did the World Cups and everything until New Year's. Then I started filming for my street project that I’m working on, I’m not sure when it’s out, I only have one clip left to get, but it’s pretty much done, I also did a project with Red Bull that’s coming out this week. I also did a lot of work with the event, Unrailistic, so that’s been my season.

Photo by Klaus Polzer

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Unrailistic must be pretty soon?

Yeah, I come home for a week, I build all the features and then it’s the next week.

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With Unrailistic, Knuckle Huck, Nines, and Playstreets, would you say the more ‘alternative’ events more suit your style?

It’s fun with all the different contests, I kind of like the more traditional contests too though. I’m going for the next Olympics and I like all kinds of skiing. With the alternative events, it’s almost like they make the creativity for you, so you can just enjoy it. I kind of like that too.

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Some people say that your style and the tricks/way that you use the courses may not be scored completely fairly. What would you say to that?

I don’t know, I just try to ski my way and the way I like to ski. Sometimes that might not fit the traditional contest judging, but I don’t want to change my skiing because of judging. I’ll just keep doing what I do.

If people like it, that’s good, but I do it for me.

Photo by Theo Acworth

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Ok, so you won Knuckle Huck in ’23, what do you think about people saying it’s turning into almost a ‘mini big air’ and losing its creativity?

Yeah, I don’t know, as long as people are still using the knuckle for knuckle huck, I think it’s fine. Then they can do some big air tricks, but it’s not good if it turns into a mini big air. There are no rules, so people will do what gets scored well I guess. I guess it’s easier to do a big trick in knuckle huck, because it’s kind of hard to think of something that’s big and technical without just doing a double or something.

It’s tricky though, knucklehuck might be in a tricky spot right now. I don’t think the knuckle is actually steep enough in the beginning, so you can actually do butter tricks easily, it’s kind of hard to do butters on that knuckle, because it’s pretty much flat. I’d like them to do some more Kimbo-style knuckles, I think that would be good for knuckle huck, then you’d see more butters and hand drags and stuff.

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Have you and the other skiers said anything to X Games about that?

Haha, I haven’t said anything, but I know it’s been a discussion after last year’s turned out to be like a mini big air.

Photo by Theo Acworth

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So, you’ve got Unrailistic and your street project, but do you have any plans beyond that?

Well, next season is an Olympic qualifying year. I kind of want to go for another Olympics, so that would be the goal for next season, it’s be nice to maybe even get my spot after the first year of qualifying. Otherwise, I’ll try to keep doing Unrailistic, try some more funky rails, and maybe try to get some more street in. I haven’t done many street projects lately and it was so fun to be back in the street again this year. I missed it so much and I felt like I was 16 again!

It’s tricky to combine a contest season with a full-on filming season.

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Do you think you’ll ever step away from the contest scene, to focus more on filming? After the next Olympics maybe?

I don’t know. I still like competing. I won’t stop competing while I still enjoy it. I have more tricks that I want to do, so I’m not going to quit yet!

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I had dinner with some Swedish friends the other night, who are from Åre and they told me that you still drive the snowcat and shape the jumps at Bräcke Park in Åre, is that true?

Haha, I have a partnership with the resort. I’m not physically building anything, but I’m involved in what features they have. My name’s on it, but I wouldn’t take any credit for building that park!

Photo by Theo Acworth