Banking on Success — Episode 7: Anna Gasser’s inspiring sporting career
In this episode of Banking on Success, Daniel Rath and Eliza Kavrakova welcome Anna Gasser, one of the greatest female snowboarders ever as their guest. Anna tells all about her late start in professional sports, the right mindset for success, and how to support young talents.
This episode is also available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Anna Gasser is a two-time Olympic gold medalist and two-time world champion in Big Air, multiple X Games gold medalist, three-time Austrian athlete of the year, and has broken numerous records in snowboarding. In the podcast, she tells us about her childhood, when she started gymnastics and how she and her sister always pushed each other in sports. She recounts how she got into snowboarding as a teenager, which meant more freedom for her in contrast to the strict rules of gymnastics.
She talks about what it was like to start her professional sports career relatively late at the age of 18, how she moved to the US, and why she set herself an ultimatum for success. She advises anyone who wants to achieve something to invest 100% in their dream – just like she did with her first prize money before she had any sponsors. She tells us about partnerships she has had with brands now for more than 10 years and why it is important to wait for the right ones.
“I never wanted to limit myself.”
Anna talks about limitations she refuses to accept and the inner voice she trusts. She believes that everyone should be their own CEO and sees herself as a role model for other women, not just in sports. She is proud that in the male-dominated sport of freestyle snowboarding in Austria, there are even more women than men in this field.
“If we support each other, we all win at the end of the day.”
She raves about the big community in snowboarding and how, in addition to competition, inspiration and celebration of others is important, and how she perceives the differences between men and women in this sport. She reveals what makes snowboarding so unique and what everyone can learn from it.
“I'm at an age now and at a place in my career where I want to give something back.”
In addition to her active career, Anna Gasser is already committed to supporting young talent, for example with her initiative Future Queens, an event for upcoming snowboarders worldwide aged 10 to 18. She talks about how she wants to intensify her work once she’s retired from active competition.
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