25 Best Snowboarders All Time | List of Famous Snowboarders

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When the skating season is over, I love to snowboard whenever I can. I love watching the pros pull mad snowboarding stunts.  I figured it’s time to make a post about the best snowboarders and list them in no particular order. 

The best snowboarders of all time include names such as Shaun White, Danny Kas, Gretchen Bleiler, Terje Håkonsen, Max Parrot, Lindsey Jacobellis, JP Walker, and many more. These snowboarders have influenced the rest of the world with their unique style, techniques, personality, professionalism, and sometimes, pure insanity.

Reading and watching this article will definitely be fun if you love to watch snowboarding as a sport or if you love snowboarding yourself and want to know more about the best snowboarders in the world. Professional snowboarders really are the most talented, unique, and fantastic athletes in the world.

In this blog post, we will give you a list of the 25 best snowboarders of all time who impressed the world with their style and techniques. So, let’s get started.

25 Best Snowboarders Ever

I’m sure I missed a few snowboarder dudes and dudettes but these are the best snowboarders I could come up with. I tried my best to get some of the gnarliest videos available for you to view on a rainy day. Some footage is quite old and will take you back to memory lane.

Let’s get going shall we? Here’s a list of some of the best snowboarders ever:

1. Shaun White

Shaun White is an American professional snowboarder widely known for best face in the sport of snowboarding. Born on September 3, 1986, he had been in this sport since he was 17 years old, and since then, there is no stopping him. Shaun White became an Olympic champion for the first time when he was only 19 years old. Shaun White is the icon of snowboarding, and over the past 15 years, he has built up an unrivaled list of achievements.

Achievements:

Shaun White is an amazing three-time Olympic gold medalist and also holds the record for the most X Games gold medal holder by a snowboarder. He has also won the Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Award (ESPY Award).

2. Travis Rice

Born in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and son to a ski patroller, Travis Rice is a big mountain snowboarding legend with a matchless track record for making genre-defining snowboarding movies. He was born on October 9, 1982. He has been listed as the thirteenth most influential snowboarder in the last 20 years by Snowboard Magazine.

Travis Rice is the legend of slopes with over an experience of 12 years in elite completion. In 2001 he started his professional career, and his career skyrocketed when he won a place in the Winter X Games. He also landed a life-changing part in the snowboarding film ‘Transcendence.’

Achievements:

Travis Rice has filmed amazing snowboarding videos year after year and produced shots like a 120-foot backcountry gap jump. He has also won several US opens and an X Games gold medal.

3. Gretchen Bleiler

Gretchen Bleiler, born in Toledo, Ohio, started snowboarding as her passion at the age of 11. She became an Olympic Silver medalist and one of only four females who were invited to an exclusive event called ‘The Arctic Challenge.’ However, she announced her retirement in January 2014 when she was injured in a 2012 training accident and failed to make an appearance in the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Achievements:

Gretchen Bleiler has won four gold medals at the Winter X Games, and she became the first female rider to perfect an inverted backside 540, known as “The Crippler.”

4. Danny Kass

Danny Kass is a six-time X Games medalist and two-time silver medalist at the Winter Olympics. He was born on September 21, 1982, in Pompton Plains section of Pequannock Township, New Jersey. Danny Kass was also hit in a TV show called ‘The Adventures of Danny and the Dingo’ on Fuel TV.

He has his brother Matt Kass is the founder of Grenade Gloves that special gloves for snowboarding. Danny has been ranked as the best snowboarder of all time in the eyes of his fans, colleagues, and family.

Achievements:

Danny Kass has won a silver medal twice at the Winter Olympics.

5. Anna Gasser

Anna Gasser is an Austrian snowboarder who was born on August 16, 1991. Anna is the first woman ever to land a super, awesome Cab Triple Underflip. In the early years of her career, Anna was a part of the Austrian National Gymnastics Team.

In 2017, Anna won gold in the Big Air Event at the Snowboard Championship held in Spain. Moreover, in 2019, she became the first female snowboarder to perform a Cab Double Cork 900 kicker, a double salto backward with a half turn.

Achievements:

Anna Gasser won three X Games medals in 2017 and a Gold medal at World Championship by receiving a score of 100.

6. Mark McMorris

Mark Lee McMorris was born on December 9, 1993, and one of the best snowboarders to complete a backside triple cork 1440. This Canadian snowboarder specializes in slopestyle and big air events. He won Canada’s first bronze medal in the slopestyle event at the 2014 Winter Olympics. He also won back to back gold medals in the Winter X Games.

Achievements:

In the 2020 X Games, he won three medals. However, Mark had suffered several injuries that were documented in a film about his life.

7. Chloe Kim

Chloe Kim is remarkable. She is the youngest woman to win an Olympic gold medal in snowboarding. She was born on April 23, 2000, in California, USA, and won her first gold medal at 17 in the snowboard halfpipe. Chloe has also won four gold medals in the X Games and two gold medals at the Winter Youth Olympic Games. In 2019 Chloe decided to take some time off to study at Princeton.

Achievements:

Chloe Kim was listed among the most influential people of 2018 in Time Magazine.

8. Lindsey Jacobellis

Lindsey Jacobellis is an American snowboarder born on August 19, 1985. She has paved the way for women snowboarders around the world. However, she has taken the top position in the world snowboarding across the country several times. Jacobellis also appeared on a charity edition of MTVs Challenge, which was titled The Challenge: Champs vs. Pros.

Lindsey is a won the X Games snowboard cross champion 10 times!

Achievements:

Lindsey Jacobellis has achievements in Snowboardcross, Snowboard Slopestyle, and Snowboard Halfpipe competitions.

9. Max Parrot

Max Parrot is a Canadian snowboarder who has won the X Games championship seven times and a silver medal in Olympics. He was born on June 6, 1994, in Quebec. He discovered snowboarding at the age of 10. Max Parrot landed the first backside triple cork that was ever witnessed in an X Game slopestyle event.

In January 2019, Max announced his diagnosis of cancer, but he recovered in early July 2019. And then he came back to snowboarding by winning the X Games snowboard big air event in Norway.

Achievements:

Max had brought the Cab 1800 Trip Cork into competition at X Games in Aspen where he earned his second big air gold medal.

10. Terje Håkonsen

Terje Håkonsen is a Norwegian snowboarder who is considered the most influential snowboarder in history. He was born on October 11, 1974, in Vinje, Norway. It is believed that Terje has revolutionized the sport. He participated in the documentary’ First Decent’ where he snowboarded down peak 7601 in Alaska.

Achievements:

One of the most discussed achievements of Treje was the world record for the highest air. Treje achieved a height of 9.8 meters above the top of the quarter-pipe during a qualification round at The Arctic Challenge in Midtstuen, Oslo, with a backside 360.

11. Hannah Teter

Hannah is an American Olympic champion born on January 27, 1987. She has won the gold medal in halfpipe at the Winter Olympic Games 2006 and the Silver medal at the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. Hannah Teter was one of four American athletes who modeled for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in a section devoted to Winter Olympians in 2010.

Achievements:

Besides being an American Olympic champion herself, Hannah is the global ambassador for the Special Olympics and has achieved success in snowboarding. She is also praised for her charitable work, including founding her organization called Hannah’s Gold.

12. Torah Bright

Torah Jane Bright is an Australian snowboarder born on December 27, 1986. Torah is one of the most successful Australian Winter Olympian, former Olympic gold and silver medalist. She became the first athlete to qualify all three snowboarding disciplines that are halfpipe, slopestyle, and boarder-cross.

Achievements:

Torah Bright won a silver medal at the Winter X Games in Aspen, Colorado. Bright came in fourth in the superpipe behind medalists Kelly Clark, Elena Hight, and Arielle Gold in the 2013 Winter X Games.

13. Ingemar Backman

Ingemar Backman is a Swedish snowboarder who is famous for setting the world record highest air out of a quarter-pipe (8.5 meters) in Riksgränsen, Sweden in May 1996. However, he participated in the 1998 Winter Olympics, and his record was broken by Finn Heikki Sorsa, who made 9.3 meters high air at The Arctic Challenge event held in Oslo in 2001. And then again by Norwegian Terje Hakonsen, who made a 9.8 meters high air. His date of birth is April 1, 1976.

Achievements:

Shaun Palmer, another excellent snowboarder, made his video game named ‘Shaun Palmer’s Pro Snowboarder, in which Ingemar Backman is a playable character.

14. Peter Line

Peter Line is a professional snowboarder who belonged to Bellevue, Washington. He is also a member of the Forum Snowboarding Team and also the founder of Original Forum 8. In case you don’t know about Forum 8; they were J. P. Walker, Jeremy Jones, Joni Malmi, Wille Yli-Luoma, Bjorn Leines, Devun Walsh, Chris Dufficy, and Peter Line

Achievements:

Peter’s biggest achievement and contribution in snowboarding was the popularization of cork and inverted tricks that opened up a whole series of freestyle tricks.

15. Jeremy Jones

Jeremy Jones is an American snowboarder born on January 14, 1975. He is famous in the snowboarding world for big mountain freeriding and is the founder of his freeride-oriented snowboard brand, Jones Snowboards. Jeremy also produces films that record his climbing and snowboarding adventures around the world.

He is also the founder of the non-profit group, Protect Our Winters, which works to reduce the effects of global climate change using educational, activist, and community-based projects.

Achievements:

Jeremy Jones made his efforts on big mountain snowboarding, particularly in Alaska.

16. Gigi Ruf

Gigi Ruf is an Austrian snowboarder born on October 9, 1981. He is famous for snowboarding because of his unique style and creativity. Now, he has set up his snowboard brand known as ‘Slash.’

Achievements:

He is famous for his film segments with Absinthe films, Kingpin productions, and The Pirates.

17. Johan Olofsson

Johan Olofsson is a Swedish snowboarder who is famous for taking freestyle tricks, more commonly performed in man-made terrain parks, into the big mountain freeriding environments of Alaska. His date of birth is 27th October 1976. However, Olofsson is known for snowboarding, but he came from a freestyle background.

Achievements:

Johan Olofsson was featured in two movies Snowriders 2 in 1997 and Freeriders in 1998.

18. Terry Kidwell

Terry Kidwell is a professional snowboarder, also known as the ‘Father of Freestyle.’ He was the pioneer of bringing skate style to snowboarding. He lifted up the level of freestyle tricks – From handprints to stylish grasser methods to the first twist on snow.

Achievements:

Craig Kelly was inspired by Terry Kidwell’s freestyle techniques.

19. Jeff Brushie

https://youtu.be/c0Hix_5Vm8I

Jeff Brushie was brought up in New England and is known for his unique snowboarding techniques. He started his career by joining the Burton team alongside such names as Craig Kelly and Terje Haakonsen and helped to kickstart freestyle riding.

Achievements:

Jeff Brushie earned a World Champion Halfpipe title.

20. Trevor Andrew

Trevor Andrew is a Canadian snowboarder born on August 31, 1979. He started his career by competing at the 1998 Winter Olympics and 2002 Winter Olympics. But after his injury in 2005, Trevor had to leave his snowboarding career.

Achievements:

Trevor Andrew was also a musician, so after his injury, he turned to music by signing with Virgin Records and re-releasing his first album, “Trouble Andrew” in 2009.

21. Bryan Eguchi

Bryan Lguchi is a professional snowboarder who belonged to Los Angeles, California. He was born in 1973, and his nickname is ‘Guch.’ Moreover, he belonged to half Japanese ancestry.

Achievements:

Bryan Lguchi’s achievements include a second-place win in the World Half-Pipe Championships in 1992, X Games bronze medalist in 1997, and numerous segments in widely distributed snowboarding films.

22. Shaun Palmer

Shaun Palmer is a professional American snowboarder. He was born on November 14, 1968. In his snowboarding journey, Palmer received various awards, including USA Today’s World’s Greatest Athlete, Details Magazine’s Athlete of the Year in 1998, and the NEA Extreme Athlete of the Year in 2000.

He also introduced Palmer snowboards in 1995, and these were one of the most famous names in the sports.

Achievements:

In 2006, Shaun Palmer earned a spot on the 2006 US Olympic Snowboarding Team.

23. Todd Richards

From Paxton, Massachusetts, Todd Richards was born on December 28, 1969, and is a snowboarding legend. He is a freestyle snowboarder who helped introduce “skate style” when the sport was mainly influenced by alpine racing events.

He has won countless rewards, including X Games gold medals, multiple US Open halfpipe titles, and World Championship wins. Todd was a member of the 1998 US Olympic Halfpipe Team.

Achievements:

Todd Richard has been an influential freestyle snowboarder who is a subject of a documentary named “Me, Myself and I,” which was released in 2009.

24. Daniel Franck

Daniel Franck is a Norwegian Snowboarder born on December 9, 1974. He started his career professionally in 1993. He is also known as ‘The Slippery Hotdog’ because of his style and ghost-like disappearance.

He won his first international championship Gold at the European championships in 1995 and became 2nd at the World Cup Ranking during the 1995–1996 season. Daniel won silver in the men’s halfpipe in Nagano, Japan, in the 1998 Winter Olympics. He announced his retirement in 2008, and now he owns his clothing company that carries his name.

Achievements:

From 1999-2000 Daniel Franck won the World Championships, European Championships, and the World Cup overall, all in one year. Daniel has earned 16 world cup wins, 11 Championship medals, and more than 40 international podiums in his career.

25. Tara Dakides

Tara Dakides is an American snowboarder who was born in Mission Viejo, California. Her date of birth is August 20, 1975. She started snowboarding when she was 13 years old. She also took part in gymnastics and skateboarding.

In the 1999 Winter X Games, Tara won a silver medal in slopestyle and a gold medal in big air. In 2000, she won gold twice, one in slopestyle with a combined score of 88.50 after three runs, the 2nd gold medal in big air with a combined score of 78.

Achievements:

She won a big air gold medal with a score of 89.00, and she was seventh in slopestyle. At the 2001 Sims World Championships, she was first in slopestyle and fifth in big air. In the 2002 X Games, she won her third slopestyle gold medal. She also received ESPN’s Snowboarder of the Year award.

That’s it!

I can probably add a bunch more but I’ll leave that for another time. This list is just an opinion so I apologize if I left your favorite boarder out. Don’t forget to check out the best snowboard brands of all time!

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