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Andri Ragettli, acrobatic containment

Is there a region in Switzerland calling more than Graubünden to conquer the great outdoors? Andri Ragettli grew up there in the small village of Flims, 2,600 inhabitants, 1,081 meters above sea level and just about as many different ways of exploring nature. He learned to ski right next door, on the 220 km of snow-covered boulevards of Laax. But it is enclosed between four walls that, far beyond the surrounding mountains, the young freestyle ski champion (21 years old) has really made a name for himself.

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While the whole world is inventing a life in confinement between telework, videoconferencing aperitifs and lounge fitness, and while footballers film themselves juggling rolls of toilet paper, the young man publishes a video on the internet where you can see him doing a lot of acrobatics between his kitchen furniture, trampolines, chairs or window sills. He finishes by performing a somersault and disinfecting his hands with hydroalcoholic gel.

The message is clear: stay home (and have fun as you can anyway). “I think we have to be creative during this period which, of course, represents a big change for all of us,” said the Grison. We can take the opportunity to do different things, while helping to overcome the health crisis caused by the Covid-19. ” His approach is not limited to preaching the good word: he promised to commit 1 cent (from his pocket: “I have not spoken to my sponsors”) in the fight against the virus by like he would get on social media. And likes on social networks, it has become a specialty to accumulate like almost no one else in Swiss sport.

Become a global icon

Andri Ragettli is above all a wonder on his skis. He’s been doing spectacular tricks in competition since the age of 10. He made his World Cup debut two days after his fifteenth birthday, won his first slopestyle crystal globe two years later and posed for several figures that no one had done before. The only thing missing from his record is an Olympic medal. But the champion also quickly understood that for – declared ambition – to become “a legend of the sport”, to shine in the snowparks was not going to be enough. He had to ensure a global audience. So he managed to become a phenomenon on the internet.

The story began in 2016 with the publication of a video of a “training” in the gym, where the young man was doing balance exercises and other jumps. “We did this cool journey at school, we filmed it and I ended up putting it online,” summarizes the interested party. And the internet has gone mad. ” The short clip has been viewed more than 40 million times, helped by the sharing of several major Facebook pages.

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He did it again in 2017 with a second video, published before the Pyeongchang Olympics, and the box was repeated: 80 million views, interviews around the world and a notoriety that exploded following, in particular, a Real Madrid relay, with Andri Ragettli wearing the jersey… on purpose. “Yes, it was part of the plan,” he admits today.

Before making your parkour “At home”, he imagined two more, with ever more difficulties. The surprise effect is repeated every time and so is the success on the web. “I think these videos have helped me build my brand and make myself known to the world of sport in general,” he says. This time Stan Wawrinka shared my video. Novak Djokovic, Bastian Baker and many others reacted to it. For an athlete like me, whose sport has only limited TV coverage, such exposure helps a lot. “

Good training

At the start, there could have been confusion: were Andri Ragettli’s acrobatic courses part of his training? Today, there is no secret of the marketing nature of the approach. Even if he is far from taking it lightly from a sporting point of view. He is “not afraid of the injury” because he says he is very aware of his limits and what could endanger him. But the simple realization of these exercise sequences, which sometimes span several minutes, requires serious and application.

His parkour at home, “very spontaneous and easier than the rest,” only asked him 30 tries before finishing. Others require more than 100. “It takes a day of shooting in general,” he reveals. For the parkour number 4, which was very complicated, I ended up really tired and in the end it still makes for a good workout! “

Andri Ragettli believes that he has always been an agile and a little bit hotheaded child – no matter the space available. He will no doubt continue to make backflips on the living room glass table for the duration of the confinement, between two short solo running sessions. But he is nevertheless delighted with the moment when he will once again be able to enjoy the surrounding mountains: “Oh yes, I miss skiing!”


Profile

1998 Birth.

2013 Debut in the Freestyle Ski World Cup.

2016 Wins World Cup and publishes its first “parkour” video, which goes viral.

2017 Succeeds the first quad-cork 1800 in history.

2018 Seventh place in slopestyle at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

2020 Call on fans to stay home with an acrobatic video shot at “Casa Ragettli”.

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