Video: Behind the scenes featuring Leif Nestvold-Haugen

As apart of FIS alpine’s behind the scenes series with World Cup athletes, Norway’s Leif Nestvold-Haugen discusses the newfound balance he has found between skiing and spending time with his family as well as the mental tactics that have brought him success on the World Cup.

Haugen has been competing on the World Cup since 2009, kicking out of the start gate for the first time at 20-years-old in Soelden, Austria. Since then, success has not come easy for Haugen, nor did it come early. After competing on the U.S. NCAA circuit and graduating from the University of Denver, Haugen returned to his home country and kept putting in the work at the World Cup level until the results came. Now, at 32, Haugen is ranked 6th in the world in the giant slalom.

“It took me about seven to eight years to get on the podium, and the first podium was medal,” Haugen laughs in his interview with FIS alpine.

To learn a bit more about the Norwegian tech skier, watch FIS’ full video below.