{"id":1802192,"date":"2026-03-02T16:59:59","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T13:59:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1802192"},"modified":"2026-03-02T16:59:59","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T13:59:59","slug":"on-the-radar-matias-roche","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1802192","title":{"rendered":"On The Radar: Matias Roche"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Hailing from the industrial end of France\u2019s Maurienne Valley, better known for aluminium plants than X Games dreams, Mathis Roche hasn\u2019t followed the typical French freestyle pathway.<\/span><\/p>\n

Self-managed trips, summers spent earning a living as a paragliding instructor, and the occasional night in a van to make a start list has been Matias\u2019 path. Raised in a family of flyers\u2014his father a paragliding adventurer who has launched from the world\u2019s seven highest summits\u2014Matias learned early that if you want altitude, you earn it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, after a breakthrough season that nearly never happened, the 22-year-old has found his way onto the biggest stage in skiing: The Olympics.<\/span><\/p>\n

We caught up with a grinning Roche just before New Year to talk nose butter triples, imposter syndrome, and why his \u201cfinal season\u201d changed everything and ended in an Olympic start.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Scott Naismith: Salut Matias, where did you grow up skiing? What was it like?<\/b><\/p>\n

Matias Roche: I learned to ski in Aussois and Val Cenis.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I started freeskiing early. When I was really little, they did a show in Val Cenis where they built a small kicker and did demos for the tourists. I saw those guys doing back flips and stunts and I really wanted to do the same. So I joined the freeski club at Val Cenis. We didn\u2019t have a snowpark, though, so we just built our own jumps to shred.<\/span><\/p>\n

I progressed quite quickly and made it onto the regional team, the Comit\u00e9 de Savoie, and did four years of competing in the Europa Cups with this team. W<\/span>e didn\u2019t have school in the winter, so we could ski as much as possible.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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At the end of high school, my parents asked me to pay for the season because it cost ten thousand euros a year to be on the team, it\u2019s really expensive. So I had to work if I wanted to keep skiing.<\/span><\/p>\n

I know this is the case with plenty of talented young skiers in France. Eventually, as they progress, it becomes unsustainably expensive and they have to give up on their dreams, not for lack of talent or ability. How did you manage that?<\/b><\/p>\n

I had a lot of luck because my parents taught me how to paraglide when I was quite young\u2014they are professional paragliders. So once I finished high school, I became a paragliding instructor.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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A lot of young skiers are really talented but they can\u2019t keep going with it, most of the time it\u2019s because of the money. They don\u2019t have a job that pays well enough, quickly enough to progress.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I was lucky with paragliding, I could easily make money during the summer, which gave me the opportunity to keep pushing my riding.<\/span><\/p>\n

I think at the beginning, I had some good tricks, but I was never consistent. I couldn\u2019t put down a run in a comp and that was really frustrating. Being consistent is the hardest part. Getting hard tricks is kind of easy, sort of, but to be consistent is what is more important and difficult. To get there you need experience and to ski a lot, and for this you need to have money.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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I remember the first time that we met, we the judges, took you to Prato Nevoso for a Europa Cup. But you weren\u2019t part of a team or a club. You were kind of independent, right?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

After I left high school, I didn\u2019t want to go back to the Comit\u00e9 de Savoie because you don\u2019t have any control of your own budget. So, I went independent to have control of which trips I went on. I feel like this time without a team or coach built me up, I learnt a lot.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You slept in our car in the car park the night before the contest because you didn\u2019t have accommodation right? Certainly character building.<\/b><\/p>\n

Yeah because the rent started the next day, so I had to spend the night in the van. Well actually that night, there might have been a girl that I met, so I went and stayed at her place\u2014so it wasn\u2019t too bad actually. I actually think one of the judges also matched her on a dating site that same night\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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No comment. Very resourceful of you though.<\/b><\/p>\n

Last winter turned into your breakthrough season, but it almost didn\u2019t happen right?<\/b><\/p>\n

At the beginning of last season, I had decided that it was going to be my final season competing and chasing this dream. My goal was to get a podium in Europa Cup so that I could ski instruct in France without doing the long ski instructor qualifications.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I was just thinking about making everything that I spent on this dream over the years worth something, you know. I didn\u2019t want to give up before having a podium. Without that I wouldn\u2019t have too much to show for all the time, effort and money that I, and the people that supported me, put in. At least with my ski instructor qualification, it would all be worth it.<\/span><\/p>\n

When I won the Big Air in La Clusaz, everyone was so stoked. I was one of the oldest on the circuit, so a lot of people knew me and knew my goals. At that point I had achieved what I wanted, and everything that came after was just an unexpected bonus.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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After that win in La Clusaz, it didn\u2019t end there. Following good results at the start of the season, you earned a place at the World Cup in Tignes, and made it into finals.<\/b><\/p>\n

I was so happy with my performance, it was crazy. But I was so stressed when I got into the final, I was feeling like I was an impostor, you know. I cried just before going to the training. I didn\u2019t know what I was doing there, it was so scary.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But once I was on my skis, everything went really well. I really wanted to do a nose butter triple cork 1980, but the jump was a little bit too small, so I had to stick to the 1620. I didn\u2019t know it was going to score that well. I think I was really lucky with the timing of the trend of nose butters coming back. It was like bringing back the glory days of the nose butters from Dollo ten years ago, so I think that I got lucky and took that opportunity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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After a great performance in Tignes, I was selected to go to Silvaplanna. I didn\u2019t understand it well at all, I thought it was just another World Cup. I didn\u2019t realize that it was the World Champs until I was there.<\/span><\/p>\n

So again, I had the feeling of being an impostor. But I didn\u2019t want to be a one hit wonder, so I gave it everything I had, to have no regrets. And I think that\u2019s kind of the spirit from now on.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We are rapidly approaching the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics. What do the weeks leading up to that look like?<\/b>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I am going to be spending some time training without the team, it\u2019s like a full circle moment. The goal is to train as much as possible before the Olympics, but yeah let\u2019s see, the Olympics are going to be so fun.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Best of luck for the Olympics, hopefully you will be celebrating after Big Air.<\/b><\/p>\n

Even just being there at the Olympics is already a celebration for me. Last year, if you told me that I was going to the Olympics, I wouldn\u2019t have believed you. It wasn\u2019t even on my mind. Life\u2019s great, it\u2019s so crazy.<\/span><\/p>\n

One last thing, your childhood friend Nathan Pequer-Col wanted me to ask you about the Spider-Man trilogies\u2026<\/b><\/p>\n

Which one?! Haha, the first one is the best. We had a ritual with Nathan, that every time we went to Livigno, we would watch every Spider-Man movie. So, actually, that\u2019s a great reminder for me, I will need to watch them as soon as I arrive in Livigno for the Olympics.<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Good luck in Livigno, and remember, with great power comes great responsibility. Merci Matias.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\tAlways get<\/strong>
\nfirst tracks
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Hailing from the industrial end of France\u2019s Maurienne Valley, better known for aluminium plants than X Games dreams, Mathis Roche hasn\u2019t followed the typical French freestyle pathway. Self-managed trips, summers spent earning a living as a paragliding instructor, and the occasional night in a van to make a start list has been Matias\u2019 path. Raised […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,279],"class_list":["post-1802192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-downdays-eu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1802192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1802192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1802192\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1802192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1802192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1802192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}