A chat with Tiarn Collins

Words by Liam Stretch. Images provided.

I had the chance to have a good ol’ chinwag with New Zealand representative snowboarder, Tiarn Collins. When talking to someone for the first time, you quickly get a sense for who they are. With Tiarn, I could tell straight away that he was a genuine guy who truly loves what he does. Tiarn moved to Central Otago when he was eight years old, and upon moving there he discovered an array of new sports. “All my friends had skateboards, I thought it was really fun,” said Tiarn.

Quickly becoming an avid skateboarder, he found the progression into snowboarding rather natural, with all his mates in the alpine town partaking in the thrill-seeking sport. A couple of years passed and Tiarn was gripped by both sports. “They took over my life.” Realising he was pretty good at the shredding it down a mountain, Tiarn decided to try out some competitions – starting locally when he was around 12 years old. “It just snowballed… when I started competing.”

Since discovering his talent, Tiarn has now competed both on the local and international stages including the 2016 Youth Olympic Games, 2017 Junior World Champs, and the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea – gaining podium finishes in a few. Although, it wasn’t all smooth sailing – or snowboarding – for Tiarn at the Olympic Games.

While doing a practice run of the Big Air event, he took a tumble and popped his shoulder out; ending his hopes of competing in the Olympics last year. Since then, and several surgeries later, Tiarn is back on the board and chasing snow. Tiarn has seen a fair bit of the world on his board – and puts the slopes of Switzerland and Japan at the top of the list, but says that home will always be the best. “We have everything here, the closest hill is 25 mins from my house,” Tiarn said.

When I posed the question to him about the importance of boarding in his life, he said, candidly, that it is definitely the mental clarity one can gain from gliding down a ski run. “It’s that feeling you get from cruising round – you forget about everything, it just clears your mind. “It’s even better with friends – you have a blank canvas up the hill.” For now, Tiarn is working on getting back to the big competitions and took part in some local events late last year.

This is just the beginning for a talented young athlete. Watch this space for more from Tiarn Collins.