First-time Olympian Marcus Kleveland isn't out to prove anything. That should make his competition very nervous.

First-time Olympian Marcus Kleveland isn't out to prove anything. That should make his competition very nervous.

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Erin AlexanderToday

Marcus Kleveland probably wouldn't call himself a snowboarding prodigy, but we will.

Born in 1999 in the scenic ski resort town of Lillehammer, Norway, it wasn't exactly a miracle that Kleveland ended up on a board. Still, his first time on the slopes wasn't quite what he expected.

"My sister was snowboarding for fun, and I played a lot of video games," Kleveland tells Men's Fitness, so he naturally developed an interest. One day, along with his father, a three-year-old Kleveland went up to the mountain for the first time and quickly discovered that riding wasn't as easy as pushing buttons on a controller. "I was super-stoked to ride until I figured out that it was way different than playing video games," he says.

But that didn't stop him. After about six months of skiing, Kleveland hopped back on a board and has "loved it ever since".

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Fast-forward to 2015, when he became the youngest-ever rider to land a "quad cork," a dizzying trick with four inverted flips (here's what that looks like). In 2017, he not only won big at the X-Games (taking home gold in the Slopestyle event and silver in Big Air), but also earned a "Rookie of the Year" nod from Snowboarder magazine.

Today, he's got multiple big-name sponsors, like slopes-friendly lifestyle brand Volcom, and a track record of consistently nailing monster tricks that make him a serious contender for the Olympic podium.

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From trampoline training to his essential gear, here's how Kleveland is prepping for his first ride as an Olympian in PyeongChang. (Cue the Norwegian national anthem.)

Snowboarding

Fitness

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January 22, 2018 at 08:43AM