I get ‘the fear’ now that I’m a bit older
BILLY MORGAN’S snowboard may carry the slogan “I’m having more fun than you” but even he admits fear is a constant companion on the slopes.
The dangers of the sport were underlined only yesterday when his Great Britain team-mate Katie Ormerod was forced to pull out of the Winter Olympics when she severely fractured her right heel in training just 24 hours after breaking a wrist.
And Morgan admits he considered quitting two years ago after one crash too many.
“I think some people don’t get ‘the fear’ but I get it more now than before. Just being a bit older, I get the fear a bit more,” he said.
It is now five years since Morgan became an internet sensation when he landed the first Triple Backside Rodeo 1260. And in 2014 he made the men’s slopestyle final on the discipline’s Games debut, posting the top score in qualifying.
But in the end he fell on both of his runs and was ranked 10th, a gold or bust mentality underlining his approach to the sport, especially when a repeat of his semi-final score would have won him bronze.
In 2015 he became the first man to land the big one, a Quad Cork 1800 – which features five dizzying rotations in just under three seconds.
He said: “When you are attempting a really big trick, you just worry about it all the time. When I go to bed, sometimes I find it hard to get to sleep because I’m just fretting about stuff in my head.
“But when that moment comes where you know you’re going to try it, you don’t really have time to be worrying about how scared you are. However, I definitely feel the pressure.”
But this week Morgan, right, is chilled and feeling ‘hyped’ and looks like he is having the time of his life again.
It pays to do your research when hanging out with Team GB’s effortlessly cool ‘Fridge Kids’, of which Morgan, 28, is an elder statesman. The acrobat – do not call him a gymnast – turned snowboarder is considered Britain’s first medal chance in PyeongChang, when he goes in slopestyle qualifying in the early hours tomorrow. Slopestyle competitors navigate a course punctuated with features and jumps, with judges scoring them based on the difficulty of tricks they execute. Four years ago Jenny Jones won bronze in the women’s event, Britain’s first Olympic medal on snow, and Morgan, who is joined by team-mates Jamie Nicholls and Rowan Coultas, is looking for more. But do not expect any fighting talk; in snowboarding, it is not the done thing. “Considering what we do most snowboarders are pretty quiet, I’m actually really shy,” he says. “There’s not much arrogance in snowboarding because it is not cool to be a disliked person. We’re surrounded by nice people which makes it so enjoyable. I like competing against friends. Of course you want to win but I’m pleased for them if I don’t.” Many athletes will talk about pencilling the date of their Olympic moment in their diary years in advance but not Morgan. However, he did enjoy the Games party four years ago. “I do remember having a toilet seat around my neck at one point in the middle of the dance floor,” he says. “It’s a special event but if I’d chained these Olympics in my mind, I wouldn’t enjoy it and I wouldn’t perform. “It’s scary to put yourself under that much pressure. I need fun stuff in my life or it’s way too intense.” WATCH Morgan compete tomorrow on Eurosport 1. Don’t miss a moment of the Winter Games on Eurosport and Eurosport Player. Go to eurosport.co.uk
You don’t have time to worry about how scared you are