My name is Giacomo Kratter. I’m seventeen years old and I live in a small town in Italy’s eastern Alps called Sappada. I’ve been snowboarding for five years and my sponsors are Nitro, Oakley, Red Bull, and Reef. My favorite spots to ride are Livigno, Italy, in the western Alps during the winter and Val Senales, Italy, in the central Alps during the summer. My favorite music is hip-hop, and besides snowboarding, my favorite hobby is playing PlayStation.

After some sacrifices by my parents, I was able to compete and get good results at international competitions: third in the Junior World Championship’s in the States, second in the Austrian Open, and first in the Italian championships.

Snowboarding has a symbolic importance to me because it represents a kind of rebirth. Some years ago, just before I started snowboarding, I had an accident. It was in summer and I was playing with some friends in the country around Sappada when I fell off a hayloft. I almost died in the hospital when they had to take out my spleen. It was a really terrible period, but now when I’m a little bit down, I think about what happened and I feel lucky.

My hair is blond and very long. People on the slopes and at contests used to think I was a girl. Once, I took part in a straight-jump exhibition in the main square of Innsbrück and all the spectators were wondering why I was competing with the boys and not with the girls. My parents were in the audience and heard all the comments. Now, hopefully, everybody will know I’m a boy.

Nomally, I travel around the different spots in Italy and Europe with my best friend and brother Filippo. I really think he is better than I am, but there is no envy at all between us; we always try to coach each other one. My favorite rider is my younger brother Simone, who is nine years old. He started snowboarding at five years old, so there is no discussion, he will be the best.

Thanks a lot to my parents, to my sponsors, Edo in particular, Lele, Franz, and Peter. Ciao.