This week’s pro rider gear profile features Séb Konijnenberg.
Séb is a French rider from Briançon, Hautes Alpes, France and is a team rider for Nidecker. Still only 24, Seb has almost 10 years as a professional rider competing predominantly in Big Air and Slopestyle.
Sébastien Konijnenberg Interview
Hi Seb, thanks for taking part in the interview. First question. How long have you been competing professionally in snowboarding?
I joined the french national team in 2012, so almost 10 years.
What discipline(s) do you compete in?
Mostly Slopestyle and Big Air but at the beginning I was also riding Halfpipe a bit.
Who was your snowboard idol growing up?
I had few but Peetu Piiroinen, Kazu Kokubo and Nicolas Müller.
What was your favorite video part over the years ?
The most iconic for me was Forum – That and Travis Kennedy’s part, so gangster
Snowboarding Profiles is a gear site, so that’s what we care most about here – how important do think it is to get your gear right?
It’s super important to have the right gear for you, snowboards, bindings, boots are just the extension of your body so if you want to express yourself the way you are you have to get the matching gears with your personality.
And for those young riders out there aspiring to be professional snowboarders, what do you consider the most important thing to being successful? Practice? Belief? Desire? Confidence? Gear? Good coach? Good physical shape? Likely a combination of the above, but what would be the single most important thing in your eyes?
Fun is the most important for sure, you can have all those criteria but if you don’t have fun on your snowboard there is no chance to go successful. The best way for being good at snowboarding is just to enjoy every single day on board and having fun doing your things 🙂
Getting back to gear, what do You think is the most important part of your equipment to get right? Snowboard? Bindings? Boots? Outerwear? Safety Equipment? And what would be your 2nd and 3rd choices as to what’s most important?
Board which matches your mindset first, boots that you’re feeling good in second and outerwear warm and breathable third, because those three will make you comfortable or not, if you feel comfortable with your gears then you can spend hours riding, walking in fresh snow, shaping your jumps and having good times.
In terms of the snowboard, what do you think is the most important factor or factors – the thing that can make the biggest difference to the feel and performance of the board? Camber Profile? Length? Width? Sidecut? Effective Edge? Flex? Weight? Base? Graphic
Regarding boards I’m really about basic thing, I like my board being simple and efficient with classic camber and then I’m really looking at the flex and torsion of the board to find the right balance between reactivity and stiffness.
What gear is your go to right now? Board? Bindings? Boots?
Park Set Up: Nidecker Sensor+ 159 / Nidecker Kaon-X / Nidecker Falcon
All Mountain Set Up: Nidecker Escape 162 / Nidecker Kaon-Plus / Nidecker Falcon
And finally, where is your favorite place to snowboard?
Nothing worth riding at home ! Ahaha I really like Les Hautes-Alpes in France cause you can find everything you want in this region, you can find good snowparks, backcountry spots, cool resorts, nice powder runs and steep freeride lines.
Massive thanks to Séb for taking part in this interview – keep on shredding hard! To keep up with Séb check out his instagram here.
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