Su Yiming’s style and precision go big in the mountains, and beyond
With an acting career and a gold medal under his belt at just 20 years old, Su Yiming is just getting started. And he’s doing it with precision and style, from the slopes to the big screen.
Standing atop the 60-metre-high ribbon of snow at Big Air Shougang, there were two layers of nerves competing for Su Yiming’s attention. First, he wondered if his competitor's final run would be enough to overtake his previous run score. Second, if his score did get bested, would he have enough to go even bigger?
After a few moments of breathless pondering, the scores came in. The camera panned to Su and his coach embracing, and it was official: the 17-year-old was a gold medallist in Big Air at the Beijing Games. Well, not official quite yet – first, he needed a victory lap. While other riders might have passed up the opportunity, Yiming strapped in, floating a massive frontside 360 to the roar of the crowd. As he skidded to a stop, he realised what he had just accomplished: just days before his 18th birthday, he was the first Chinese snowboarder to become a Gold Medallist.
01
Early life: How Yiming’s passion for snowboarding sparked an unexpected acting career
Yiming’s childhood was authored by a deep passion for snowboarding passed on by his parents, both dedicated snowboarders in their own right. From the age of four, Yiming’s winters growing up in the notoriously cold Jilin City were occupied by riding as much as he could, which required waking up early to finish his homework so he had time to ride and finding whatever gear was available to him. One of his earliest boards stood 20 centimetres taller than him, but that didn’t phase him.
After more than a decade of calling snowboarding a hobby, his dedication on the slopes paid off in an unexpected way: a film starring Chinese actor Tony Leung, The Taking of Tiger Mountain, needed an actor to play Zi Shaun. They needed to be comfortable sliding on snow, but there was a catch: Yiming would have to click into skis for the role. Taking on the challenge with the enthusiasm he has come to be known for, he learned to ski in just a few days, and his acting career blossomed.
Since then, he has starred in the film Rock Kid, the TV series Tracks in the Snowy Forest, A Splendid Life in Beijing, and The Wolf. While his star shone brighter each time he appeared on the big screen and Yiming cemented himself as a figure in Chinese pop culture, Yiming never lost connection with his snowy roots. After a few years of balancing his professional career of acting with his lifelong hobby, in 2015, Yiming heard news that would change his course. The nearby city of Beijing had won the bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. The wheels started to turn, and he decided to re-dedicate himself to snowboarding.
After a few years of training and preparing for world-class competition, it wasn’t until 2019 that Yiming stepped onto the FIS circuit, enjoying mixed results in his first year: a first-place finish in Pyeongchang in Big Air and a second in slopestyle and 23rd at the FIS Junior World Champs in Big Air, and 47th in slopestyle. But Yiming kept his head up, and after a season off in 2021 due to COVID, Yiming ended up with only one finish outside of the top 10 in his Olympic qualifying year.
Next stop, Beijing.
Just having the opportunity to compete in his home country was a dream, but at the same time, the weight of a potential medal lingered.
"I trained every day for the past four years. Every night I was dreaming about this moment.", remembered Yiming.
03
From teenage triumph to national sensation: how Yiming’s skills made history
To say the Olympics were a grow-up-quick moment would be an understatement. Days before his 18th birthday, Yiming stomped a silver medal slopestyle run with a jaw-dropping frontside 1440, switch backside 1620, and backside 1800. To the dismay of the snowboard world and the announcers, the run wasn’t enough for gold, with the head judge even acknowledging a potential scoring error. Always a role model for sportsmanship, Yiming and his coach called Iztok Sumatic, the head judge for Olympic Snowboarding, letting him know they were “happy with the result” and “respected the decision he made.”
His focus on the next thing paid off, and just a few days later, a gold medal was draped around his neck as he became the first Chinese Snowboarder to win a gold medal at the Games, this time in the Big Air discipline.
While few had heard of Yiming before his World Cup win just a few months prior, the hashtag ‘Su Yiming must be able to fly’ trended on Weibo with nearly 50 million views, and his star shined brighter than ever. For Yiming, it was nothing short of a dream come true.
04
Going bigger than snowboarding
Since his Olympic win, Su has kept his foot on the gas, using his platform to help snowboarding grow as a sport in China, and maintaining sponsor relationships with global brands such as Red Bull, Burton, Oakley, and Adidas, while also featuring collaborations on his social media with high end fashion brands like Cartier and Louis Vuitton.
There are few athletes who have had the success Yiming has had on the slopes, and to pair that with a successful acting and modelling career is practically unheard of. But to Yiming, it’s part of his story, and a testament not to just his potential, but the potential of his generation.
“The young people of my generation are creative, boundless, and very energetic. We are all ordinary, but if we dare to try, everyone can become extraordinary.”, says Yiming.
05
What's next for Su Yiming?
While Yiming’s life is filled with unfathomable achievements to most, what makes Yiming special is his ability to blend flair with humility, and passion with patience. He recently enrolled at Tsinghua University, and he’ll be back on the competition circuit this winter, balancing his free time with his passion for fashion, surfing, and playing guitar.
Next up is the Laax Open, an iconic snowboard event with a stacked field of competitors that will test his skills after a fall of training at home in Jilin City, and on the glacier at Saas Fee, Switzerland.
No matter what I do, I will be focused and spare no effort to do it well
There are few who can juggle excellence in the manner that Yiming has, and he hopes that can serve as an inspiration to others. The most admirable part about it all? He won’t quit until the job is finished.
“I hope to be known not only as an athlete but also as an actor and maybe for other things, too. However, no matter what I do, I will be focused and spare no effort to do it well," he said.
You can watch Su Yiming compete at Laax Open 2025 live on Red Bull TV.
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