Interview with the high-flyer: Slopestyler Emil Johansson up close and personal

Emil Johansson (23), Team Trek

In 2016, the young Swede got his biking career off to a flying start. The following year, he won the Whistler Joyride Slopestyle and has won eight races to date. Crankworx slopestyles win. Emil recently won the prestigious Red Bull District Ride in Nuremberg and will probably also become FMB World Champion for the third time (2017, 2021 and 2022).

FREERIDE: Acht wins in a row at world-class competitions and now victory at the legendary District Ride in Nuremberg - that's a lot of pressure building up. How do you deal with this pressure?

Emil Johansson: I don't have a mental coach, if that's what you mean, and I don't do yoga or meditate. I'm just myself. That actually works very well.

At the District Ride you were the only one to use a slopestyle fully. Why was that?

Because I can do it (laughs). And because Trek gives me a bike like this. There's no reason why I should ride a hardtail.

Which district in Nuremberg did you enjoy the most?

The halfpipe district was the best built. There are many construction requirements for the jumps in Nuremberg. This doesn't make it easy for the course designers, who often have to make compromises.

I may look cool, but I'm nervous like everyone else.

"This is a 360 tailwhip to barspin to opposite downside tailwhip. I can't practise a trick like this because there are no jumps this big anywhere else. I practised parts of it and put it together into a jump for the first time in Nuremberg. I hadn't planned the trick combo and didn't know twice whether it would work. It just happened - just before the jump, my pulse switched to turbo. But that's good, because then your body adapts to what's coming!"

Max Fredriksson calls you the best biker in the world. Is that you?

Well, that depends on how you define "the best biker". There are so many extremely good bikers in the various disciplines.

Who can you think of?

Nobody who I would say is the best biker in the world. The best biker in the world probably doesn't even exist.

So no specific driver comes to mind?

Brandon Semenuk, for example? There are many who inspire me. Other riders, but also athletes from completely different sports. Skaters, snowboarders, surfers, for example.

You're already at the top of your sport. At the age of 23. Not so easy to stay motivated, is it?

There are always pros and cons to achieving a lot at a young age. I was already touring the world at 17, I had to grow up quickly and learn to look after myself. I moved away from home when I was 16 because the training facilities at home were poor. I travelled all over the country by public bus, organising my training and my trips. But I don't have any motivation problems, because there is so much more.

What exactly?

Life in general has so much to offer. I have the feeling that there is so much more I can achieve. I'm far from bored. And if I am, then I'll change something. I try to stay curious and have new experiences. So what's the disadvantage of having achieved so much at a young age?

Are we just talking about biking now?

Well, I can only bike for a few hours a day. That leaves plenty of time for other things.

For example?

This is private, I only share it when I feel like it.

Do you want to share with us?

I read books, for example. I'm interested in a lot. That's where others become concrete, I call it being interested in life.

Why are you afraid to be specific?

(Laughs) I'm not afraid to be specific. I want to get better at surfing or skiing, for example.

Do you find the sports easier because of your motor skills when biking?

I think so. But it's difficult for me to judge. I would have to slip into someone else's shoes. I'm convinced that if you approach it with the necessary enthusiasm, it automatically becomes easier. At the moment, though, I'm really passionate about biking.

You seem to be supernatural at biking. Why do you do it so well?

Are your competitors less talented? Or less disciplined? What is the reason for your superiority? Yes, some people call me supernatural. But that implies that it all comes naturally to me. It doesn't. I put a lot of work into the sport. You'll have to ask the other riders why they don't succeed to the same extent.

When you push yourself to the limit as an athlete, you always feel something. That's part of the sport. I also have to deal with small and big defeats.

All the crashes, the hard landings - that leaves its mark?

Do you feel pain when you get up in the morning? When you push yourself to the limit as an athlete, you always feel something. That's part of the sport. I also have to deal with small and big defeats, with setbacks. I also sprain my ankle, break my hand, pull my neck. There's nothing you can do about it except get enough sleep, eat healthily and take care of your body after injuries.

You had a good mentor: slopestyle ace Martin Söderström. What was the best advice Martin could give you for your career?

I hear that again and again. That's not true at all. I lived somewhere else in Sweden. I only met Martin a few times a year. I didn't really have a mentor, just a lot of people who supported me.

Slopestyler Thomas Genon surprised the scene when he took part in the Rampage. Does that mean: once good on a bike, always good on a bike, no matter which one?

No, it doesn't work like that. It helps, but you have to spend a lot of time on the big bike to get good.

Does the big bike appeal to you?

Oh yes. The Red Bull Rampage is on my list.

You took part in the Rampage in 2019 and came 12th.

It was just a trial, I wanted to try it out, experience everything on site to see if I liked it. A kind of big mountain internship, if you like.

And?

Yes, I like it. A 12th place wasn't bad, considering I'd never been to Utah before, in the desert, and had only been told a week before that I was allowed to start at all.

Your career reminds me of Brandon Semenuk's. First slopestyle, then big mountain.

It's impressive what Semenuk has achieved. And now he successfully drives rally cars. But mixing bike disciplines is nothing new. It's the natural progression of a biker.

Brandon Semenuk and you are on the same Trek team. What is it like to ride with Semenuk?

It's exciting to experience him in real life. Semenuk inspires many bikers, including me. But we haven't really got round to going biking together yet.

The Proving Grounds competition has just taken place. It's like slopestyle "on steroids". Now there's even going to be a whole competition series soon. Do you want to win that too?

When I was at the Proving Grounds, I felt like I'd travelled back in time. It was like slopestyle in the early days, a mixture of slopestyle and freeride. Like Adidas slopestyle in the early 2000s. It was my second time at the Proving Grounds, but I had broken my hand this summer and therefore didn't have enough time to train on the big bike. So I went there more to get back into it than to be able to ride to victory. That wasn't my goal at all.

Could you have won?

From the outside, it seems as if you can jump on another bike and ride in exactly the same way. But that's not the case. The big bike behaves completely differently in the air and the tricks work differently. The competition course was also different. You need time and training for that. But Proving Grounds was good preparation for me.

Voices on Emil Johansson:

Statement from Erik Fedko, best German slopestyler:

Emil seems withdrawn, but he's a really nice guy, super helpful and incredibly well organised. He's very mature for his age - that's impressive. I suspect this is because he left home at the age of 16 and lives on his own. He now lives in the north of Sweden, where the bike community is much better. He can train there specifically and prepare for competitions.

Statement from Tarek Rasouli, manager of Emil Johansson:

Slopestyle presenter Cam McCaul calls Emil: the surgeon. Because Emil is so precise with his tricks and completes even the most complicated jump combos with such perfection that even experts no longer know exactly what Emil has done. Emil is a perfectionist in all areas of life. For example, in the product development of bike parts. Here, Emil unpacks his knowledge in a way that makes the engineers dizzy. Because Emil is trained in CNC metal milling technology.

Statement from Amir Kabbani, former slopestyle pro:

There were moments in my career when I felt at one with the bike. But there's no comparison with Emil. The guy literally melts into his bike. It's unimaginable how long The sequence of impulses that he throws out there with all the tricks and he does it to perfection. It's a different world. I see parallels between him and Semenuk. Both are so deep into the subject and both seem almost a bit autistic.

Statement from Kathi Kuypers, slopestyler:

Emil is the alien among us, the extraterrestrial, because we all have no idea how he does it. Not from this world! He is very introverted and concentrates on the essentials in life: Biking!