MICHAELA DAVIS-MEEHAN – WELCOME INTERVIEW
Michaela Davis Meehan is officially the number two women’s snowboard freerider in the world right now. If you know her, and if you’ve seen her ride, this shouldn’t come as a surprise.
The surprising part is, she’s also Australian.
Like much of the skiing and boarding that went down in the northern hemisphere in the early months of 2020, the Freeride World Tour ended rather unceremoniously. When the dust settled after the announcement that the final event in Verbier had to be cancelled in light of the soon to be Covid-19 pandemic, the standings at the time solidified into the finishing places, so Michaela took the no. 2 spot.
Michaela was sitting pretty with consistent results all season and dare we say was set to peak at the final event.
A fifth in Kicking horse was followed by a second-place finish in Hakuba, a second-place finish in Fieberbrunn Austria and most recently a first-place finish in Ordino Arcalís Andorra.
In fact, this first place made history as Michaela was the first Australian to take the gold at a FWT event!! Out of all disciplines, snowboard, ski, men and women!
A competition season like no other, was naturally followed by an off-season like no other and Michaela barely got on snow, despite living down under throughout winter. Instead, she shut up shop and was subjected to one of the harshest lockdowns in the world at the time in Melbourne, Victoria.
Despite spending more time in our trail socks this year than our snow socks, we’re stoked to welcome Michaela to the team. We’d been watching her performance on tour like many Aussies and knew it was a partnership waiting to happen.
Below, we pick her brains about another wild and unprecedented competition season and find out how she’s been staying ready for the steeps.
Michaela probably eyeing off her next line. Pic cred: Oliver Godbold
Michaela letting it run somewhere in Europe. Pic cred: Andrew Mazzocato
LB: Hey Michaela! It’s been a hectic few months and we’ve done plenty of back and forths’ regarding getting you in the threads and especially whether it’s to be summer or winter threads on the menu! How have you been?
Hey hey! I've been doing really good thanks! Now that lockdown has lifted, I'm just about to head off on another camping trip!
Good to hear! Before we backtrack and ask how you spent the Aussie winter season, we have to ask what’s the latest regarding the Freeride World Tour this season? We’ve heard plenty of murmurings that it’ll run in some capacity?
At this point in time, it is going ahead! With the Japan and Canada stops cancelled, it will just be a Euro tour this season. The FWT are working hard to make it happen. Of course, with things changing so frequently it's a tough one to plan for and no one will 100% know until we are hiking up ready to drop in for the first event!
No kidding, so are you trying to get over to Europe for it? You’d have to be one of the only Aussies travelling for a snow season if so! That must be pretty surreal?!
Yeah, it's all pretty crazy! I've only just booked my flights and am out of here this week to Switzerland!! I'll ride there until the first stop of the FWT on the 22nd Feb in Andorra.
That is wild! We'll definitely be vicariously riding through you then this season! How ready are you physically to get back on the steeps? We’re guessing you haven’t had much time off when it comes to training right?
I kept at it over lockdown, working out at the park and lots of bike riding! If anything, lockdown was great for my training, as there wasn't much else to do! haha
And as far as on-snow prep goes, did you get any Aussie riding in at all this season?
The terrible season we had made me feel a lot better about not getting up there! I did manage to squeeze in 2 days of hiking at Hotham in between lockdowns though!
For an Aussie, Michaela sure is comfortable in the steeper and deeper stuff. Pic cred: Andrew Mazzocato
Aside from training how else have you stayed busy this season? Our other Victorian legend Lucy Bartholomew dove into the deep end of a cookbook. Is cooking your jam or have you another hobby you’ve been able to hone?
Sounds yumm! I didn't dive into the cook books but I did pick up a whole bunch of new hobbies. It started off super lazy when I first came back to Aus from Switzerland in quarantine. It involved A lot of Netflix and learning to play the Ukulele! After that I started volunteering at the local community centre with their fresh food program, I started and now just completed a diploma in film and television, got myself a slackline (which is super fun) and did a bunch of bike riding to explore the 5km radius we were allowed to go to as I just moved to a new state when I arrived back in Aus.
I definitely made the best of the situation, all of that kept me pretty sane and busy!
Glad to hear it! Thanks a bunch for taking the time to catch up with us and we can’t wait to see you competing, whenever that is!
Cheers guys!!! Fingers crossed it's 2021! :)
Here's to more turns like this in 2021. Pic cred: Andrew Mazzocato
ABOUT MICHAELA
Age: Old enough...to party!
Hometown: Newcastle
Home Resort: Perisher
Nationality: Australian
Sponsors: Le Bent, The North Face, NFPD Brand, Twelve Board Store, SunGod, SunButter Ambassador
Favourite Le Bent gear: It's all good!! But absolutely loving the Women's Boy Shorts! A girls gotta have comfy undies!
Follow Michaela here: Instagram
