Claudia Fliri
First name: Claudia
Last name: Fliri
Home: Kramsach, Tyrol, Austria
Home away from home:
Wherever life is taking me
Height: 1.58 m
Weight: 52 kg
Favourite board: SQD Impress 145
Stance: +18/-9, and as wide as possible
Sponsors:
- Völkl, Snowboards
- Billabong
- Smith
- Flux Bindings
- Pow Gloves
- Bern Unlimited
- 2nd place, X Games 2008
- 1st place Chevy Grand Prix 2008
- 2nd place, US Open Big Air
- 2nd place, NZ Open 2007
- 1st place, Fructis Big Air 2007
- 3rd place, Roxy Chickenjam 2007
You probably have a nickname - please tell us the story behind it.
I have a few nicknames but the recent one is Loucius, given to me by a musician in L.A., where my best friend Mara and I stayed for a while. Her given nickname is Franky. The funny part is that the guy, Eddy was making up a song about Loucius & Franky.
Do you remember your first day on a snowboard?
Yes I do. I remember the bruises on my butt and knees. I tried it first with my sister’s old pink Nidecker race board with hard bindings and I ripped the bindings off right away when I started doing cliff drops. Then my mum bought me my first board, a Heavytools 153 with soft bindings, way to big for my height, but I loved it soo much.
How did you learn new tricks back in the days?
Back in the days? I can tell you how I do it now: the main thing is to get the trick in my head. When I’m able to visualize it inside of myself, I’m sure I can do it on the jump, too.
Why have you never stopped snowboarding since then?
Actually, I did stop for a while, because my best friend had had a bad accident. He broke his back and got paralyzed from the chest downwards. This was a major reason for me to focus on something else for a few years.
You probably have visited a bunch of different ski resorts already. What’s your favourite place, what was the most exotic and where would you like to live and ride in the future?
The most incredible place I’ve been to was New Zealand. It’s so beautiful, the resorts are awesome, and it’s not that much industrialized. People are mellower. I like it a lot. I could imagine living there.
You also must have seen tons of snowboard videos in the past. What’s your favourite video part and why do you remember it?
I can’t tell you a specific part but I liked “Dropstitch” and “Transfer”, and also “Float”. I remember them because the girls where kicking arse.
Let us know about your favourite trick! Do you have any specials in your trick bag?
My favourite trick is a BS 540. FS 360s and FS 720s are also amazing. Actually, I love all the tricks where I’m landing blind side.
What do you like most about Völkl Snowboards?
The style of the designs, the shape and the partial grip laquer on the Impress SQD are amazing!
What about entertainment? Let us know about your gigabytes of MP3s and videos!
On my iPod now: Rise Against, Face to Face, The Distillers, Metallica, SickPuppies, Queens of the Stoneage, Incubus, The Cure, Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Morcheeba, Hooverphonic, Bedouin Soundclash, Elisha Profit, Moonraisers, Moloko, Frou Frou, and many more. Videos: Zeitgeistmovie, What the bleep do we know, The Secret.
How do you make your stomach happy? You must have some favourite drinks and food?
Mojitos and home-made meals. It doesn’t matter to me what it is, as long it’s home-made.
What was your best experience in life so far?
Travelling and meeting a lot of people of different cultures. This is such a great experience every time I’m on the road.
And finally, what is your biggest dream?
I’m living my biggest dream!
Smile, stay positive and happy because you are the one who is in charge of your feelings and emotions. You can decide on the way you want to live your life!
