Who Is Oystein Braaten? Wiki, Skier, Net Worth, Gold Medal & Facts To Know

Oystein Braaten was born in 1995. He is a Norwegian freestyle skier born in Ringerike. Braaten competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, where he finished on the tenth place in slopestyle. Braaten again represented Norway in slopestyle at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, in which he won a gold medal. Braaten is nicknamed OB by his friends and family. He loves to skate and play tennis apart from skiing. The athlete can speak English and Norwegian languages. He trained in the club Torpo IL in Norway under coach Gordon Allen who is on national level. His older brother Gjermund has represented Norway in snowboard. He was ranked 12th in slopestyle at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi. Braaten made his World Cup Debut - 2013 in Copper Mountain, CO, United States of America. In 2013, Braaten snapped the ligaments in his left thumb and was in plaster for six weeks. He began skiing at a young age on homemade rails and ramps in his backyard. He took up the sport because he admired the tricks that the older children were doing at the ski school he attended. Braaten follows a strict training regimen and tries to ski every day, and usually spends between four and six hours on the slopes. "When I get home I try to do another activity to recover faster. I either go to the gym, go skating or do something else fun with friends." His most memorable achievement was being placed first in slopestyle at the 2017 Winter X Games in Aspen, CO, United States of America. The US freestyle skier Sammy Carlsson is his hero. Braaten has a really weird ritual which he follows religiously before his competitions. "[I] always wear the same boxer shorts [underwear] during finals." He believes in the philosophy, "Ski or die." He was nominated for the Best Male Sports Action Athlete award at the 2017 Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly [ESPY] Awards. Canadian snowboarder Mark McMorris eventually won the prize. Braaten also became the first Norwegian male athlete to win an Olympic gold medal in freestyle skiing by claiming victory in slopestyle at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang. As an X Games gold medal winner in Slopestyle, Oyestein Braaten has the freestyle skiing world at his feet. He started skiing around the time he could walk, and started trying tricks at the age of eight. The whole reason he tried freestyle skiing in the first place was because he admired the freeskiers at his local ski school, but that all seems like a distant memory now. It's evident that extreme snow action runs in the Braaten family blood, as Oyestein is the younger brother of professional snowboarder Gjermund Braaten. Braaten also credits much of his comfort on rails to shredding with his big bro when he was younger. Majority of Oyestein's time these days is spent skiing with friends and other professional freeskiers like Bendik Oye and Andreas Haatveit. They inspire him to get better and go bigger. After having competed for his country in slopestyle at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Oyestein's career has taken an upswing ever since. In 2015, he pulled off a mind-boggling world first Flip-to-Flip – flipping onto a rail, balancing the whole way through and then finishing off with a misty off the rail in one epic trick. Since his ground-breaking moment, he has got many medals, including a coveted first X Games Slopestyle gold medal in 2017's contest. He's a freeski legend who is just in the making!

Oyestein Braaten's lucky underwear did the trick this time too at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games. Braaten topped a strong field to take home an unexpected men's ski slopestyle gold medal. The event was very competitive and nail-biting right from start to finish as eight of the 12 qualifiers for the final had scored more than 90 points. The winners won by really narrow margins. "First run I did what I planned to do, what I wanted to do as well as I could, and it held up against all the great runs today. Just being a part of a final like this was amazing," Braaten said, about his winning run. "The level was so high, so many of the guys I have looked up to and inspired me every day to go out and ride. When I first got to compete with these guys it was amazing." Braaten's effort in Pyeongchang, South Korea paid off to get him his first Olympic medal of his career. Braateen is the second Norwegian to win a medal in freestyle skiing, after Audun Groenvold took bronze medal in the men's ski cross in 2010.

The net worth of the skier is currently unavailable.

Oyestein Braaten is active on Instagram and Facebook. He is available on Instagram @oysteinbraten which is his official page and on Facebook @oysteinbraten1.