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Twelve-year-old Stian (pronounced Ste-on) Langbakk has captured gold in the U13 Slopestyle Snowboard competition at Canada Olympic Park (COP) in Calgary.

Langbakk took the event with a first-run score of 50.2 on Jan.29.

Slopestyle is a judged event with several jumps and rails in one run. The combination of how snowboarders do on the jumps and rails on the run gives them their score.

They use the best score out of two runs. The run with the lower score doesn鈥檛 count.

The Star spoke with Langbakk and Snowboard Yukon coach Gabe Rivest before Sunday鈥檚 Junior Nationals.

鈥淚n that specific event, Stian had two runs only to show what he could do, and he landed his first run perfectly, so that鈥檚 what got him the win,鈥� recalled Snowboard Yukon coach Gabe Rivest.

He was in Calgary coaching Langbakk.

鈥淯sually all riders will have what we call a 鈥榮afe run鈥�, which is a run that, for the athlete, is one that the athlete is pretty sure he鈥檚 going to win, or has a high chance of landing. And after that, if that athletes lands that safe run, then we usually try to hop it up a notch with some tricks that are a little bit harder that the rider doesn鈥檛 necessarily land all the time. And so after doing good on his first run and landing his safe run, we stepped it up a notch and he just 鈥� it just didn鈥檛 go as he was hoping,鈥� related Rivest.

Needless to say, Langbakk was thrilled with his gold medal win.

鈥淚鈥檓 very happy. Excited.鈥�

鈥淚 kind of just did my safety run and I landed the tricks I wanted to, mostly, and then on my harder run, I kind of, like, bobbled a bit on it ... my safety run was a lot better.鈥�

鈥淚 think it was amazing! He did really well.鈥� added Rivest.

When asked if anybody from Yukon had done this well before, Rivest replied 鈥淣ot at that age. No鈥�

Rivest has been coaching Langbakk for a couple of years.

鈥淗e鈥檚 still pretty young, obviously, so it hasn鈥檛 been that long.鈥�

Langbakk names Rivest and his dad as major influences on his early success.

Rivest explained what he thinks makes Langbakk so successful at such a young age.

鈥淗e鈥檚 obviously extremely talented and he鈥檚 a hard worker. He鈥檚 very coachable and he鈥檚 extremely passionate about the sport. It鈥檚 huge at that age; that鈥檚 all he thinks about, that鈥檚 all he wants to do all the time, he just never wants to stop.

鈥淗e loves the variety of the sport. He loves jumps just as much as rails, which is nice, especially for slopestyle,鈥� added Rivest.

Langbakk is quite focused when it comes to what he wants to do in the future.

鈥淚 want to become a professional snowboarder, 鈥� he stated.

鈥淏eing able to go to X-Games ... I don鈥檛 know. I just want to snowboard,鈥� he added.

Langbakk had a lukewarm response when asked if he wants to ride for Team Canada.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 know. Maybe. Yeah.鈥�

As for the Olympics, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know. But I just want to go to X-Games,鈥� stated the young boarder.

Rivest thinks the young boarding phenom has a lot of potential.

鈥淚 think he can take it really far. A big thing with snowboarding is always injuries. It鈥檚 always super-hard to predict, depending on how injuries happen or don鈥檛 happen, especially at a young age, can make a big difference. But so far, he鈥檚 an extremely solid rider. I can definitely see him taking it to the next level in no time. He鈥檚 extremely talented and, like I mentioned, he just loves the sport so much.

鈥淚鈥檝e been coaching for about 10 years now in the Yukon and I鈥檝e never coached another athlete that loves it this much at such a young age. He鈥檚 so aware of the whole snowboarding world. He knows all the different riders that are in movies, and all the tricks and everything, which is amazing for such a young athlete. I think he鈥檚 got really good potential of taking it to the next level,鈥� added Rivest.

He also thinks Langbakk has the potential to be on the national team.

鈥淭his weekend is junior nationals, so that will paint a better picture as well, because there should be athletes from all over the country here, but at such a young age, often riders from other provinces, especially in COVID times, don鈥檛 necessarily travel, so it鈥檚 hard to tell the level across the country, but if things go like they鈥檙e looking now, it鈥檚 definitely a high chance of getting in the mix of the possible national team in a few years to come.

Langbakk won the U13 category at the Junior Nationals yesterday. Overall, he was seventh in his heat, one spot away from qualifying for the final.