“Pretty much every trip we went on, I had a blowout with the coach,” he remembers, citing a visit to the much-missed Snow Park NZ as an example. “They were telling me, ‘you can do two more runs on the rails and then we’re going down to the gym’. I was like ‘dude, it’s so good out here!’ It had the sickest rails at the time, but I have to go to the gym because the weather’s not good enough for the jumps? That was always a big struggle for me; it was blood, sweat and tears.”

Unlike some of his deeper-pocketed peers, Sebbe – son of a firefighter and a physiotherapist – didn’t have much bargaining power. He’s quick to acknowledge that the funding that came from the programme was “100% necessary. Without that I wouldn’t have been able to do what I’d been doing.” Even so, something had to give. In his late teens, he pitched an alternative vision for how things could work – a win-win solution if ever there were one. Just help me get to the good jumps, he told them, and he’ll do the rest. 

“Pretty much every trip we went on, I had a blowout with the coach”

After some initial pushback, the message got through. “Eventually they saw that I was really progressing a lot just boarding with friends in Mayrhofen instead of going somewhere else with the coaches. I started getting results, and as long as that one thing was in order – as long as I was getting top eights in World Cups, or final spots – they weren’t saying anything. If I got fourth in a contest, they were happy, so I’d be like, ‘OK, I’m going filming for two weeks.” Credit is due to those in charge for trusting him to deliver under his own steam; as a relatively new force in competitive snowboarding, the federation didn’t have a deep roster of talent ready to step up should Sebbe go AWOL. 

And so it went for the best part of a decade. He may not have bagged much top-tier silverware in that time, but from the X Games to the US Open his towering presence was always welcome, and will be missed. Indeed, we could have used him at the most recent five-ring circus. While he understands the assignment in Big Air, he’s been known to treat us to something beyond the usual hucking (remember the cold-as-ice frontflip at X Games 2019?). Likewise, in slopestyle you won’t catch him knee-grabbing. Seriously, you just won’t. 

“If I missed my grab in the air, I’d rather not land. If I mess up the takeoff and I’m not on a good axis to pull on the grab right,  I’ll just, like, body-bag. I don’t really bother landing, because it’s about the whole: the takeoff, the air, the landing; everything. Sometimes when on a jump, if I kind of flail and I have to let go of my grab, and I somehow still land, I’m like, ‘ah, fuck, that was disgusting! I hope no-one saw that…’ I’d rather bail.” This uber-purist approach may seem a bit extreme, especially given the size of the jumps Sebbe is hitting these days, but one thing’s for sure; if this approach caught on, there’d be no repeat of Knee-gate. 

At this point it’s hard to see how Sebbe ever fit in to the modern contest world – but as we’ve already covered, for a kid from Belgium it was by far the easiest way to make a career out of snowboarding. Besides, his presence on the circuit meant that he was often hand-picked for style-forward events such as Peace Park and Nine Royals – the latter of which he won in 2017. Factor in his backcountry prowess, and a call-up to Natural Selection was inevitable. 

The timing could have been better. As a late entrant who could only pull the trigger when his Olympic chances had finally been scuttled, the event would require a fairly violent wrench from the world of pristinely-shaped parks to a first-round face-off with Torstein Horgmo in the Jackson Hole backcountry. In the end the legendary Norseman progressed without the need for a decider. Given the circumstances, it was unlikely to go any other way.

“Those two contest runs were my first backcountry runs of the season,” explains Sebbe. “It was kind of nerve-wracking, plus the conditions weren’t optimal. It all came a little bit too fast, and maybe I should have just skipped it for another year. But I’m happy to have had that chance – and if you get that call, you can’t really say no!”

In a just universe, he’ll be back at Jackson for the next go-round – and without the distraction of the World Cup circuit, fully prepped. And if he doesn’t reappear; no matter. While he’s honoured to have been included, at the end of the day it’s swapping one start gate for another. “It’s still a contest, don’t get this wrong! People are still up there with a contest mindset. There is a lot on the line, especially because it’s getting a lot of eyes on it.”

Instead, the priority now is to finally fulfil the long-term vision he’s held ever since those teenage years spent in a massive fridge; a world of cameras, sleds and heli trips, with his fate largely in his own hands. A world beyond medals, you might say. 

“Contests were never where I wanted to shine, or where I wanted to go,” he says. “And now, finally leaving that behind, and for the first time being a fully independent snowboarder, it feels good and gives me some extra energy and motivation. It’s finally time to do what I really want to do well.”

Of course, the money’s got to come from somewhere – but after being mindful enough to build long-term relationships with his sponsors, he’s got that covered. Sebbe’s approach has always been to be extremely picky about which companies to work with, but then go all in when a good fit is found. When Giro came knocking, for example, he did his due diligence. “To me Giro was more like a cycling brand, so I wasn’t like ‘oh yeah, let’s go!’ right away. But they got a couple of other riders on there that got me really hyped. Hitch [Christian Haller] was on there, and Bryan Fox, and then Gabe [Ferguson]. And then I was like, ‘okay, I can see this going in the right direction. And I’ve been on it ever since.”

“Contests were never where I wanted to shine, or where I wanted to go”

As a point of principle, in his entire pro career he’s never jumped ship at the first sight of a better offer. “I knew so many other riders that would switch sponsors every two years – but you don’t really build up a relationship. I’m more of the mindset that you pick something you’re cool with, where you’re down with their vibe, and work your way up.”

Again, it’s those incremental steps, built on a solid foundation. No shortcuts, just graft. There’s no telling what heights Sebbe will reach now that his foot is fully on the gas. And if you see him deck it, don’t fret – he probably just missed his grab.