Damon Hayler joined the elite band of Australian winter sports World Cup medallists when he rode to third place in the World Cup snowboard cross in Saas-Fee, Switzerland, in October 2005.
He claimed the podium place in what was his fourth World Cup competition, registering an Olympic team-qualifying top 20 per cent result in the process.
The performance made him the 21st Australian to claim a World Cup or World Championship medal in skiing or snowboarding.
Although Hayler may have come from nowhere in a hurry in World Cup, the 29-year-old snowboarder has a 13-year history of snowboard competition across a range of disciplines, and has also carved out a professional career as a snowboard model for the pages of Australian and international snowboard magazines.
Hayler reached a best ranking of fifth on the International Snowboard Federation (ISF) World Tour in 2003, after another top ten ranking of ninth in 2002. When the ISF collapsed, he took a year off before returning to racing in 2005.
Hayler chooses not to spend his training months in the gym or on race courses with a coach, but instead trains in the more challenging natural environment of the backcountry mountains of Canada and Europe.
His wide range of competitive experience in all facets of the sport - big air, half pipe and free riding - has equipped him to be an extremely versatile and solid competitor in snowboard cross, an event where you have to constantly react to the movements of three other racers around you, and adapt to courses with 100ft jumps and banked turns.
After years contending with cliffs, rocks, chutes and avalanches on backcountry slopes, World Cup snowboard courses hold few problems.
Personal Details
Born
06/07/1976
City
Melbourne, VIC
Country
Australia
Sport
Skiing
Discipline
Snowboard
Medals Won
Gold
-
Silver
-
Bronze
-
Career Details
Coach / es
Self-coached
Institute/Academy Scholarship
Ski and Snowboard Australia
Major Injuries and Year
Dislocated neck, two ACL knee reconstructions, numerous broken bones
Career Highlights
Heli boarding in Chile Snowmobile-accessed snowboarding in Canada
Competing at the US X Games
Age first participated
15
Olympic Games
First Winter Olympic Games
World Championships
Whistler 2005 - 29th; Kreischberg 2003 - 26th
Olympic Results
Snowboard Cross - Men
Qualification
1:21.81
9th
1/8 Finals
2nd
Quaterfinals
4th
Final Placing 10/35
Snowboard Cross - Men
Qualification Run 1
1:24.79
28th
Qualification Run 2
1:21.51
12th
1/8 Finals
Heat 3
1st
Qualified
Quarterfinals
Heat 2
2nd
Qualified
Semifinals
Heat 1
DQ
Small Final
Small Final
3rd
7th
Final Placing 7/36
Support Your Team
Email an athlete Send an Aussie athlete a message of support today!
Gold
Silver
Bronze
