A talented snowmobile freestyle rider, the Swedish trickster has been a favorite to nab a medal at each of the three Winter X SMB Freestyle events held (’07-’09). Thus far, though, the podium has eluded him. Barely eluded him—he’s placed fourth in all three WX Freestyle comps.
But when Winter X ’10 arrives, he’s hoping the fourth time is a charm.
"I want to get a gold medal," he stated emphatically.
To do that, he’ll have to best other top sled freestylers. It’s something the talented Swede can do. With his bag of big tricks, such as the Superflip, Shaolin, corpse, stripper and other backflip variations, he’s proven that elsewhere. In March ’09 at the Best of the Best Snowmobile Freestyle comp in Jackson, WY, he scored the top spot in the Best Flip Trick category ahead of Heath Frisby and two-time Winter X SMB Freestyle medalist Joe Parsons.
He’ll also have to get past his Winter X nemesis Frisby. Bodin and Frisby have met in the bronze medal match in all Winter X SMB Freestyle events—that’s three consecutive years. Frisby has bested Bodin each time, but in ’07 and ’08, providence was not on Bodin’s side.
In ’07, he cased a landing that snapped his chain and locked up his track, ending his run. In ’08, he came up short on a jump. His skis dug into the ground and he had to eject. Things were different in ’09. Though Bodin made an entire run and succumbed to Frisby, the competition was close. Frisby bested Bodin by a little less than three points.
Even with that close margin, Bodin admitted that he was at a disadvantage in ’09. In Sweden a month before the event, he sprained his left ankle after landing hard from a backflip. "I knew I wasn’t going to win," he said from his home in Sweden during a break from his hobby of shredding on his electric guitar. "Of course I wanted a medal, but I knew it wasn’t my year."
After Winter X ’09 and competing in Jackson, Bodin spent April in Alaska filming for sled videos and then returned home. In early May, he set out to try and complete the longest backflip on a sled from a snow ramp. Already laying claim to a 147-foot backflip in the Alaskan backcountry in April ’07, Bodin wanted to
If he can overcome nerves, 2010 could finally be Bodin’s year for WX gold.
sail at least 150 feet in ’09. In Riksgransen, Sweden, Bodin attempted the feat, but as he rotated his sled twisted and he bailed at the last second. He suffered a concussion and had amnesia for a couple of hours after the crash.
A talented freestyle motocross rider as well, soon after the sled backflip mishap Bodin jumped on his dirtbike and did several shows around Europe, including six in Russia as part of the Red Bull X-Fighters Exhibition Tour.
From mid-May ’09 to mid-November ’09, he spent no time on his snowmobile and, though he usually learns tricks on his dirtbike and carries them over to his sled, he hadn’t tried anything new. He was saving that for a trip to Spain in late November to practice on his dirtbike.
Though a Winter X medal has eluded the 25-year-old, he feels his time is due. Not only known for his big, extended tricks, Bodin also has had some spectacular crashes, and he admits that his nerves have played a part in his performances.
"Think about it, you’ve got 2 minutes out there on the track, and it’s the most important 2 minutes of the whole year," he said. "Of course, you get nervous. It’s not that I’m nervous about the jumps or anything like that. I just get nervous about [screwing] up."
