Brendan Newby
Snowsports
BIOGRAPHY
A SPECIAL childhood memory and the introduction of his sport into the Winter Olympics meant Brendan ‘Bubba’ Newby (25) achieved his childhood dream in PyeongChang four years ago.
“My dad took me to a couple of the events at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City and since then I always wanted to be an Olympian but the sport I chose (freestyle halfpipe skiing) wasn’t in the Olympics. That all changed in 2014 and suddenly it was an option.
“So to do it, with my whole family there in PyeongChang, was surreal. It took me a few months to understand it really happened, for it to sink in,” he says of finishing 22nd in the halfpipe on his Olympic debut.”
Bubba was born in Cork 25 years ago when his father Van, a professor of economics, spent two years teaching in UCC.
“I think I’m skiing a lot better now than I was in Pyeongchang,” he says of pulling off his first ‘double’ in Austria in November.
“It’s a left double flare, like a double side-flip. It’s been in my head, just giving me nightmares, for seven to 10 years and was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever done so it was nice to finally do it.
“I’ve also added a really good switch (backwards) Cork Seven which is two spins with a ‘cork’ so upside-down, and also a right Cork Nine, which is two and a half spins forward with a flip.”
Qualifying for Beijing was difficult because he took most of the 2019 season off, not knowing that, due to Covid disruptions, that would backfire on him.
That’s just given him an intense qualification period of four back-to-back World Cups in the past month but he finished inside the world’s top 30 in each of them and secured his qualification with a 27th in Mammoth on January 8.
“To do a snow sport for a country that doesn’t have snow, and to be accepted and supported so well by everyone in 2018, that’s a big reason why I decided to go again,” he explains.
“If any Irish kids can see me and say ‘that’s possible’ and get into it, that would be the coolest thing in the world for me.”
OTHER SNOWSPORTS ATHLETES
SNOWSPORTS NEWS
GANGWON 2024 Winter Youth Olympics
Some of the best images from the Winter Youth Olympics Read about all of the performances from the Games Irish first with Thomas Dooley competing in Dual MogulsWINTER YOUTH OLYMPICS – FINAL DAY OF TEAM IRELAND ACTION Irish first as Thomas Dooley competes in Dual Moguls Representing Team Ireland in Dual Moguls, Thomas Dooley was [...]
Performance Round Up – January
Catch up on the latest results of Team Ireland athletes throughout the month of January! Eve McMahon Qualifies a Nation Spot In The Women's Dinghy For Paris 2024 With a race to spare, Ireland's Eve McMahon has secured a nation place for the Paris 2024 Olympic Sailing regatta (Mar del Plata, Argentina - Tuesday 9th [...]
Irish first with Thomas Dooley competing in Dual Moguls
WINTER YOUTH OLYMPICS – FINAL DAY OF TEAM IRELAND ACTION Irish first as Thomas Dooley competes in Dual Moguls Representing Team Ireland in Dual Moguls, Thomas Dooley was the final athlete in action at the Winter Youth Olympic Games in Gangwon, finishing eighteenth overall in the Freestyle Skiing event. This closed out the Irish participation […]
Finlay Wilson – in conversation with Team Ireland’s young Alpine Skier
Sixteen-year-old Finlay Wilson had a brilliant Winter Youth Olympic Games, with personal best performances throughout the Alpine Skiing competition. We caught up with the France based skier, who has strong Cookstown links. Describe your Youth Olympic experience here in Gangwon. These Winter Youth Olympic Games here in Korea have been great, a really fun experience. […]
More PBs on Slalom day at Youth Olympics
On the final day of Alpine Skiing at the Winter Youth Olympic Games in Gangwon, both Eábha McKenna and Finlay Wilson were in action for Team Ireland, competing in the Slalom event. Producing his third personal best of the week, Wilson finished his competition 27th with a time of 1:49.87. McKenna finished just outside the […]
Eábha McKenna – in conversation
Eábha McKenna competed in the Winter Youth Olympic Games in Gangwon, South Korea, just one year after her first taste of the Olympic movement in the European Youth Olympic Festival 2023. We caught up with the Wicklow born, Swiss based promising young Alpine Skier this week; How has the week been so far? It’s been […]