Photos: Antti Koskinen & Jussi Ovaskainen
Kuura Koivisto is one of the latest, insanely talented, skiers to come out of Finland. He's known for his unique style, he's on team Armada, oh and he was the first skier to land a 2160. Through it all, he has some pretty strong views about skiing. including an incident on NS and generally has a really refreshing take on where things are going. We honestly didn't know much about the guy behind the arm swing, but his skiing is undeniable, so we wanted to find out more.
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In your movie Dream, your coach Jussi Mononen said you didn’t come from the “typical freeski culture in Finland”, to the uninitiated (I’m guessing most non-Finns) what did he mean by that?
I’m from a small town called Ivalo, which is super far north. It’s a small-ass town, I think there are like 3000 people living there. That’s what he meant because I’m not from where most people come to the sport. We have good slopes and everything. It’s just so far away from everything else in Finland. Other people in the freeski academy were from the south, where there are more resorts and parks. I’m not saying that my park wasn’t good, but it’s pretty rare for someone to come to the academy from that far away.
When I was a kid, I didn’t really travel for skiing, so I didn’t know anyone when I came to the academy. In that way, I was a bit of an outsider.
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You must have still seen edits and stuff of other skiers?
For sure, I was watching a bunch of skiers from Finland, like Keesh Crew, Nipwitz, and people like that, but the age group I was in, I didn’t know much about them. I knew some of the people that came to the academy on my year, but it was kind of me stepping into the unknown. I’d definitely already seen a lot of Finnish skiing and I was super inspired by it.
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So, who was your biggest inspiration? Either Finnish or anywhere else...
Anywhere in the world is easy: Tom Wallisch. I would watch that guy every day. Just the same YouTube videos over and over again. I was just so hyped on him. I was trying to search for his outfit, orange pants, and blue jacket, I tried so hard to search for that.
From the Finnish crew, I mainly watched all the Keeshlife boys. Like I said, the Nipwitz were also a big inspiration. My coach, Jussi, is a part of Nipwitz so that’s cool to be on the team with him as the coach.
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How did you get into the academy? Do you sign up, did you get spotted, how did you get on the team?
They do like a trial thing, where we go and ski in Ruka. There’s like a ‘point test’ thing and the physical test too. I think back then it started with a 540, but it’s probably changed a lot since I came in. You got 1 point for a 540, 1.5 for a 720 and so on. They wanted to see how you ski. It was pretty much a week of us just skiing, hanging around, and doing some testing. I think we all got picked though, so it was more just them getting to know if you’re really about it.
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Ok, then you did Superunknown?
Yes. Well, I’ve never made it to the Superunknown competition. I applied for the first time in 2020 and I got in to be a finalist, but COVID happened and they only did Superunknown with people from the States that year. No one from Europe went that year, because of quarantines and stuff. The following year I did my knee. The next year, so like two years ago, I made the video like everyone else, but then I knew that Superunknown is all about not being financially supported by anyone, so I probably wouldn’t get in, but it never hurts to try. They messaged me saying exactly what I expected, but that year they invited pro athletes, or whatever, people that don’t quite fit the description of Superunknown. They invited me, not to compete but just to ski all week. That was like a dream. Just skiing without any nerves or pressure. Of course, I would have loved to see what would happened if I’d have actually competed, but I didn’t mind it at all how it happened!
https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/958522/SuperUnknown-XVII-Finalist--Kuura-Koivisto
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Speaking of sponsors: when did you start skiing for Armada?
I was skiing for Armada Finland for a few years at the Academy, but I wasn’t in contact with anyone from the actual company, just the Finnish branch. This year is my fourth or fifth year in the actual team. First, I got invited to the Armada week at Absolut Park. I was in talks to join the team but before anything could happen, I did my knee and I was like ‘f*ck! This is the worst time for this to happen! They’re not going to sign me now.’ Why would they? It’s a huge risk to sign someone who can’t even ski at the moment. Or even walk! They never even made it an issue, which told me a lot about the company.
I’ve always had huge respect for Armada, I wouldn’t ski for any other brand, it just feels like such a right fit for me, but after that, my respect was bigger than ever for those guys. I’m just super stoked that they gave me the benefit of the doubt in that situation.

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What’s it like being on their team and do you ever reach out to icons like Tanner, Phil, Henrik, Kim… for advice?
Yeah, yeah sometimes! I don’t see them in person that much, just because everyone’s doing their own thing. People are filming and some people are in the States or whatever. I actually started reaching out to people when I was like ten-years-old, like messaging Tom Wallisch and said he should come to Finland to ski with me! Haha.
I met most of the guys in Absolut Park when we filmed for a week.
I’m such a big fanboy of everyone on the team. It was such a weird situation; I was in the same boat as them all of a sudden and it still feels surreal. I found it super weird talking with Quinn [Wolferman] for the first two years, because he was just like a homie. For him, it was probably just two people talking normally but I was just fanboying so hard! I still am but I’m getting a bit more used to them being actual people, when you’ve only seen them on a screen for so long, the first time I saw Henrik, he actually came up to me, saying that my trick was nice or something and I was just starstruck! I tried to play it cool but I’m sure that they all saw right through me!
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I’m pretty sure at Chur, I saw an interview with a judge talking about progression and judging new tricks. Do you think that judging always keep up with progression?
Judging nowadays is so hard. Even the skiers, who actually do the tricks, can’t really tell what should score higher. I think it’s amazing how people ski nowadays, in contests, it’s not simple anymore, with everyone going in the same direction, like who spins the most. When you have 60 guys in a big air contest and a lot of them have a trick that no one else can do, so how can you rank those tricks? How can you score a trick that only one person is doing?
I always like to talk with the judges after the contests, to see what their thoughts on my skiing are or what their notes on my skiing are and also so I could understand their judging. What do they think about my skiing and tricks compared to the others.
I was just in China; I did the switch double overflip again. I just wanted to see what they thought about it and they told me that it’s super hard to put a score on that trick because nobody else is doing it so it’s hard to compare it. That’s super fair and if I was a judge I’d probably do a way worse job! It’s a tough question and it’s always hard to choose the tricks. If I only thought about what would score high on a contest, it would be so hard to do anything that no one else does. That’s why I try to keep my mind just on my skiing and what I want to show people. Our sport isn’t really a ‘real sport’ in a way. In running, the fastest person wins and there’s no question about it. In our sport, everyone does their own thing and some other people rank the tricks. So, it’s not a real sport in that way. I’m not trying to disrespect contest skiing, I love it but I just don’t ever want to take the scoring too seriously, because it doesn’t take anything away from the trick or the skiing that I did.
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Ok, so you already replied on the thread, but I wanted to see what you think about this now: There was a thread on your “Fake Steeze” on NS.
It’s so funny actually, I like to be super critical of myself and I always sound so mean when I talk about my own skiing. It’s all natural and sometimes you go in a certain direction and when you look back at it you don’t think that it was the right choice. The fake steeze thing was with my hands and I feel like a lot of people started doing that at the same time. I’ve noticed that people —well at least I—adapt to other people’s styles without ever even. noticing it. I think that’s what it was and also at the same time, I started using longer and longer poles. I thought maybe it was that? But I thought probably not.
It was a good wakeup call and I had to hear it. When I read it I went back to watch my most recent skiing, from the SLVSH cup, and I totally agreed with the people. Yeah, it was wack actually, what am I doing?! I didn’t take it to heart at all. Skiing isn’t that serious and sometimes you do ugly sh*t! That’s just life!
There are all these accounts on Instagram, like @Steezepolice or @afterbangpolice and I was in there once. In Jib League we just ski and they just post the videos. I think I did a back 5 swap on a battleship rail and it wasn’t a make at all, like I would never post it myself. I would have just instantly deleted that clip, but they decided to post it and someone clipped that. People were like ‘what’s happening here?!’
I think it’s so funny and I think if you’re going to pick on someone’s skiing then pick on my skiing. I never take it to heart. Some of these accounts post kids skiing and those kids might not actually want to ski anymore after that. If someone posts them, when they’re just learning. I mean, I’m learning too but I know that I’m good at skiing, so it doesn’t shake my confidence. If someone puts my ugly trick online, like what’s up, but to a kid/teenager it’s a different game. I don’t know, if someone posted a clip of me when I was like 12, I wouldn’t be as motivated to post again after that. That’s the dark side of it, but for me; yeah, go for it!
I don’t get that much hate but I think it’s funny and I usually agree with it. I love how passionate people get about this goofy-ass sport we do. It’s cool to see.
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You pretty much covered everything there! I was going to say; do you think that your unique style might provoke discussion/hate?
Maybe. Last season was the first time that my skiing got any hate. Not even hate, people criticizing my style or my skiing and I fully agreed with it. I tried my best to make that go away, because if I disagreed I wouldn’t change my skiing. I got some hate for doing the pencil 21 but I agreed with everyone there as well. Like I didn’t even want to post it at first. To answer your question; maybe, if someone looks unique then it’s maybe not for everyone. I like seeing people talk about everyone’s skiing and mine too. It makes me think about it.
The infamous 21
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These are good answers! What are your views on the contest and just the general freeski scene now?
There’s so much to say here! I think freeskiing is in a really good place. I feel like the contest scene is getting more creative and people are pushing the sport in so many different ways. People are so goddamn good these days! It’s insane how good people are. Even people who don’t make it to the finals are amazing skiers and do the craziest sh*t.
I also feel like a lot more people film parts now which I love. I just think that there’s more and more skiing to be seen, when the fall comes. There are way more invitationals than like five years back and people are pushing contest skiing in a different way with the invitationals, Jib League is doing an amazing job and SLVSH is flourishing, which I love.
I feel like we have great people in. our sport and when I’ve seen some other groups of athletes from a different sport, I’ve thought in my head that I’m so lucky to have chosen this sport. People are so friendly and I think because it’s not a real sport in a way, because other people give you a score and have the power, it means that I don’t feel that competitive against someone else in a World Cup or whatever. You’re just doing your thing and someone else is giving a score. It’s not like let's see who’s faster or whatever. I just feels like our sport is the friendliest sport. Everyone’s rooting for each other and we’re all friends anyway.
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Is making the next Olympics the big dream after missing out?
Yeah, for sure. I’m trying not to make it a huge deal in my head though. I saw the process last time, right before I got hurt, I felt a different vibe in the competitions and people were so stressed and pushing themselves insanely hard. It was a super stressful time and right before the Olympics —when I look at my skiing—I was going into a path that I didn’t want to go to. I was thinking about comp skiing in a simple way and I started thinking about what would score higher. I made that my priority and that’s not what I want to do in contests. Of course, I have an idea of what will score high and what won’t but I don’t want to make that my number one goal when I ski contests. I ski better when I’m not stressed or if I don’t think about it too much. I’m trying to learn from the last time. I’m just skiing for myself. Everyone makes it huge deal and it is a huge deal but at the end of the day, it’s a contest. Just another comp in the season. Of course, it’s a big dream of mine though and I’m hopefully heading there this time!
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Let's finish up with your plans for his winter…
This year we have a bunch of competitions, for Olympic qualification, that’s a big priority. I’m also filming for two different movies. Forre’s making a movie, which I have a couple shots on from last year and hopefully more from this winter. Armada’s also making a team movie and I filmed for that last year. Street in Finland, then we went to Riksgransen and Mt Hood. That’s the plan for this year as well; street when I have the time for it and Riks and Hood in the spring.
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and the future…
I wouldn’t say that I have clear long-term goals, I feel that I’m in the right place right now. I just want to keep doing what I’ve been doing for the last couple of years. I don’t want to worry about it too much. Just looking forward to the season mainly.
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