snowboarding

Snowboarding Olympian Hailey Langland Finds Her Passion Out on the Slopes

San Clemente native Hailey Langland has loved snowboarding since she was a little girl and that love has been turned into her passion.

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Hailey Langland got her love for the outdoors from her dad. She began snowboarding when she was very young and is now taking her passion for the sport and competing at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

She first made a name for herself back in 2017 at the X Games in Norway when she placed first in the competition. She was only 16 years old.

Langland is competing in her second Olympics. She made her Olympic debut at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics where she finished 6th in the slopestyle competition and 14th in big air.

This time around she is approaching the games much differently.

"In 2018, all I cared about was getting on the podium," Langland said. "It just hindered me so much and it didn't allow me to enjoy the experience."

Langland wants to make sure she is less worried about where she ends up and more focused on the experience.

"I want to try and enjoy it as much as I can and make it less about where I end up and just more about like the whole experience as a whole," Langland told NBCLA.

When she is not riding the slopes, she is out in the water surfing or riding some dirt bikes.

"I've been surfing forever," she said. "I try to go everyday and at most twice a day."

Langland has a deep connection to the sport and the things she loves.

“Snowboarder, skateboarders and surfers are just like these adrenaline junky bums that are so into the fun of it and it’s for the soul," she said in an interview with NBC4.

You can watch Langland compete in the Women’s Slopestyle Qualifier competition Friday at 6:45 p.m. and on Sunday at the Women’s Big Air Qualifier at 5:30 p.m.

Although she will be competing in the both the slopestyle and the big air, her heart lies with slopestyle.

"I love riding the mountain and I love creativity," she said. "You just get more of that in slopestyle."

Her family will be rooting from home while her boyfriend and 2018 Olympic slopestyle gold medalist Red Gerard will be cheering her on from Beijing.

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