Red Bull X-Fighters 2017
79 off a regular ramp . There ’ s always a debate about how tricks are judged , and some people believe some tricks are harder than others . They ’ re cool but it makes things a lot more difficult for competitions , so I feel like they belong in the shows .
Did throwing the Triple Backflip in 2015 change your perspective much on FMX ?
I feel like things haven ’ t changed too much after the Triple Flip . There was a massive de-stress after that , and I feel like I might be able to deal with stress a little bit better now .
When I started competitions , you ’ re so nervous and just struggling to deal with all the pressure . But after the Triple Flip - that was the most stressful week of my life - now I feel like I can just relax a bit more , have fun more easily , and not have to stress so much about things .
Any chance you ’ ll try it again , or is that a one-and-done ?
Definitely not on a ramp that size , that was ridiculous . I ’ ve always said no one could pay me enough to do that again . It was a tough , challenging ... took us a year to get there .
You could probably make a ramp a lot smaller and be able to do the triple , but still , you ’ d need a safe landing or quite a custom setup . It ’ s a bit of a mission to do it . But I ’ ve done it now , so I don ’ t need to prove anything .
How are you finding the balance between competition and shows ?
I started with NIGHT of the JUMPS , they were pretty cool - but I think when the X-Fighters had the series , that was a good run to focus on , because it was four or five competitions , plus X Games . But now , the three big competitions : X-Fighters , X Games , Nitro World Games - they ’ re basically three comps I like to focus on in the middle of the year . That gives me plenty of time to prepare - well , at least I think - and then I can fill the rest of the year with fun shows .
It ’ s good to mix it up - competitions get more and more stressful . I don ’ t like dealing with the stress as much as I did when I was younger . I feel like I can deal with it better , but I like to live things a little bit easier now , to do things a little bit less stressful .
Does the fact that the competitions are so close together affect your approach ?
No , it ’ s pretty much the same . If there ’ s a trick I ’ d like to do , but I ’ m not 100 % with it , I can ’ t just throw it for the hell of it because I have other comps coming up . But that ’ s basically the same as what I do every year anyway - just make sure I ’ m comfortable , or make sure I ’ m doing all the tricks that I know I can do , and I ’ ll just try and stomp that as well as I can . One stuff-up will ruin my run , so I can ’ t afford any mistakes .
What else do you have planned for the year after Minneapolis ?
Well , after X Games , we ’ ve got Nitro Circus Live shows throughout the US . That for a few months , and then I ’ ll have a couple of supercross shows in Europe , in France . Then right at the end of the year I ’ ll try and have a bit of time off around November / December ! t