AVON — It will come as a surprise to nobody, that for Chris Corning, an Olympic snowboarder, there is an immense amount of training and prep-work that has to happen on a near-daily basis for him to continue performing at peak.
"There's so much stuff that goes into it that pretty much there's not a time of day that I'm not thinking about being better at snowboarding," stated Corning.
It's a passion that Corning has been following since he was just a kid.
"Well, I started snowboarding when I was seven and then I started competing when I was 12."
Since that point, following years of training, he's been all over the map; competing in prestigious events such as Dew Tour, X Games, and the Olympics. Now, once again, he's headed to the Olympic games to represent USA and Colorado.
"When it's Olympic years like this," commented Corning, "I spend more time outside of the [United States] then I do inside of the [United States], just riding all the time."
With so much on his plate and needing to always be in peak condition to compete at an international level, how does Corning stay grounded? It's an answer with multiple parts that really starts with his fiance.
"She's an adrenaline junkie just like me and we love to outdoor things and love to spend time together doing those things; and we will travel the world and travel the country just doing what we love to do."
Some of the other things that Chris loves to do include cooking meals that he picks up from his world travels, but doing so without necessarily checking the instructions; he also loves to dirt bike and wakeboard.
When it comes to taking on the various challenges of life, he works to break it all down into steps, just like he does when learning new tricks and skills for snowboarding.
Another important aspect of life for him, and the last one we'll discuss here, is he and his fiance's two dogs, Piston and Bruce. These two loyal companions are always helping to keep the ol' homestead filled as many good vibes as possible.
In terms of what comes next for Chris after the Olympics, he says that additional education is on the horizon.
"After the Olympics, I'm going to go to EMT school and I'm also going to go to the fire academy up here and do some stuff with that, so I'm pretty excited."
Then, a few years down the line, he hopes to become a full-time firefighter.
"I'm definitely a little bit of an adrenaline junkie, not going to deny that, that's for sure. I love to be doing stuff that makes me uncomfortable because, like I said, I've been doing it my entire life, being uncomfortable, learning tricks, and things I'm not comfortable with. So if I'm not pushing myself, I kind of feel like I'm not doing anything."
The addition of a firefighting career is not something that will keep Chris from snowboarding; he plans to continue spending a great deal of time in his sport, working more with his sponsors, competing here and there, and having as much fun as possible.
To keep up with Chris, you can head on over to his Instagram.
