Meet Mick Dierdorff.

During Mick's childhood, he was involved in all sorts of sports and developed a love for competition at a very young age. Growing up in Steamboat Springs was the perfect environment to get involved in winter sports, and Mick was cruising down the ski slopes at 18 months old. During his childhood he was fully involved in alpine ski racing and was training with the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club starting at the age of 4. At the age of 10, Mick decided that ski racing just wasn't as much fun as he hoped and that winter he decided to play hockey and switch to the dark side and strap a snowboard on his feet. He loved snowboarding so much that the following season he joined the Winter Sports Club snowboard team. At first his sights were set on the freestyle events, halfpipe and Slopestyle. One of his coaches saw Mick's need for speed and suggested he try out Snowboardcross. After a weekend full of racing elbow to elbow down a fast course with jumps and turns, and two gold medals around his neck; he was hooked.

This was the start of an amazing relationship with snowboarding that would take him all over the world. During his younger years competing internationally, Mick was consistently ranked 1st in the world in his age group up until about 18 years of age when things got a lot tougher. Two major challenges Mick faced during this time were the transition to World Cup competitions, and being able to continue pursuing this dream financially. Traveling the world to compete in Snowboarding can rack up quite the bill. Any kid growing up would not have the chance to compete in a sport like this without the help of their parents. Mick’s parents were his biggest support, but also taught him at a young age that you have to earn everything in life. At the age of 14, Mick started working in the summers learning construction trades. Specifically, he was working on framing crews on everything from small remodels and random projects, to large multi-million dollar custom homes. This turned into a great way for Mick to help out with funding his dream and learn the meaning of hard work. It would eventually turn into a passion of his as well.

On the competition side, at age 17, Mick was the youngest person and first American ever to win a Nor-Am cup title. This gave him a personal start at all of the qualifying events leading up to the 2010 Olympics. Without any World Cup experience and no money for a coach, he decided he was going to take the step to the big leagues and give it his best. Unfortunately at that time and under those circumstances, his best wasn't even close. He ended the season having only made it past the time trials in 1/12 events and had lost all his points and world ranking. It was an incredible and invaluable experience, but it had left him feeling defeated and at the bottom of the totem pole in the following season.

The next few years were probably the least fun of his career. Having to drop back down to continental cups and still not having the best results, Mick had to dig deep and realize why he still wanted to chase this dream. The thought of giving up felt as if he was letting down his family, friends, and community that had been his biggest support throughout his whole life. There was a point where he felt like the easy way out would have been to hang up the snowboarding and go to college with the rest of his friends. It took some deep self reflection and after some time Mick realized why he had put so much time and effort into chasing this dream. It was because he loved snowboarding. He loved the adrenaline of the sport and thrill of speeding down a mountain next to 3 other guys and trying to make it to the finish line first. He loved traveling around the world with his friends. He also loved to make his family, friends, and community proud.

Once this rekindling of passion for the sport of snowboarding and the pursuit of this dream occurred, it became clear that Mick would not give up until reaching his dreams of making it to the Olympics and being one of the best in his sport. More success started coming Mick's way and he really started to develop into the athlete he hoped to be. In 2014, he thought he had a strong but outside chance to qualify for the Olympics. After a season of some really good riding but a few very unfortunate races (this happens a lot in snowboardcross), Mick just narrowly missed the Olympic team. He did however finally prove his ability to the US National team coaches and was given a spot on the team the following season. Once on the US team, Mick's riding really took a jump to the next level and he was starting to become a real podium contender on the World Cup. It seemed that everything came together at the right time during the qualification events prior to the 2018 Olympics.

Mick managed to step onto his first World Cup podium at the first stop of the season in 3rd place. The following races leading into the Olympics he managed to earn at top 10 result at every event which led to the realization of a lifelong dream; being named to Team USA and competing for the red white and blue at the Olympics. The Olympic race turned out to be a good metaphor for Mick’s career. After 2 dominant first heats it was time for the semi-final. Halfway down the course in a great position, Mick was taken out from behind from another rider which resulted in a nasty crash. He knew his shot at an Olympic medal was over but instead of pulling out of the course, he decided he was going to finish. It was a struggle getting down the rest of the course but to his surprise, coming into the last turn, there was a group of other athletes piled up in a crash. In complete shock, Mick came across the finish line with the crowd cheering; he had made it into the big final. If it was any other event, Mick would not have raced in the next heat due to a back injury from the previous crash. But it was the Olympics, he had to make it down the course. Unfortunately there was another crash in the finals and Mick made it down the course in 5th place. Getting across that finish line and seeing his family and friends, so proud with tears in their eyes. That 5th place felt like it might as well have been an Olympic medal.

Fast forward a year and Mick is in the same situation, about to drop in for the final heat, racing for gold at the World Championships in Utah. This time however, there was nothing that could stop him from getting down that track first. When he came across that finish line in first place, he was greeted with a massive dog pile from his teammates and some of his family that jumped the fence. Another goal had been checked off the list, becoming the best in the world in his sport. It was a surreal moment in his career and now it left him with a tougher task, trying to stay at the top.