X Games Aspen 2026: Cody Matechuk

All right, ladies and gentlemen, as you can see, we are live at X Games in Aspen, Colorado. We have recorded a handful of interview style podcasts with some of the athletes, and we're going to post these as soon as we can. We're sitting here at the table, we're going to chop these up and get them out as soon as possible, just so they're current and relevant to X Games. So it will be a little bit out of our normal schedule of every 2 weeks. I think you guys are going to like this better.

One thing we ask is just have a little patience. There is literally a concert stage right there, and there are people on the loudspeaker all day. Some of the episodes we had to start, stop, start, stop. Some of them we just pushed through. So there's going to be a little bit of background noise. We'll try and clean it up as best we can, but just have a little patience. Sit back and enjoy a few of these athlete episodes here at X Games.

First day on a snowmobile.

On a ramp snowmobile.

On a ramp snowmobile, January 1st.

Yeah.

It's quite the timeline marker. Gosh, man. Okay, we're here at Hay Days. No, we're not. Dude, we're just pulling bangers out left and right. I'm so used to putting a headset on and saying “Hay Days.” We're at X Games. Aspen. That's where we're at.

So, I reached out to all of the competitors, all the athletes, and said, “Hey, I've got a list of questions and it'd be cool to get everyone in here and just get a vibe for where everyone's at.” 2020 was the last year, if I have my math right, with snowmobiles. So that's what we're doing. We're going to bang through these questions and get a vibe for everyone.

So, I've got Cody Matechuk here. Dude, where are you from?

Cochrane, Alberta, just northwest of Calgary. Usually I'm riding snow bikes here, but snow bikes aren't back. They brought snowmobiles back. So now I'm on a sled. Thumb throttle.

A little thumb throttle. What do you do outside of action sports? When you're not on a snow bike, what do you do?

Well, that's an interesting one. Basically every gnarly extreme sport there is, I kind of found my way into it.

All of them?

All of them.

Cool. And that's what you do? You're blessed to be able to do that.

Yeah, full-time. I've been riding a lot of freestyle motocross, doing a bunch of stuff in the backcountry with snow biking, whether it's R&D, working on the kits, coaching snow bike camps, and some FMX camps. Most of my hobby time, I walk up mountains and jump off them and fly my wingsuits between trees.

Did I just see a video of you? On the way down, didn't you just jump off a cliff or something?

Yeah, Tiffany and I stopped. I said, “I know this spot. It's about 10 miles down the way. We can do it.”

Like a freestyle jump? You just go find a cliff and then you jump off of it?

Yeah. That particular one was one I've jumped before. When you've got a ledge that's high enough and steep enough, you can do it, and every jump has its different difficulties.

And it's not with an outfit. This is just you picking a cliff and saying, “That looks like fun to jump off of.”

Yeah, there's no instructor. That's me.

Wow.

Go skydiving first. And then do this.

That's right, dude. That's cool.

So, you're at X Games. I just about said Hay Days again. Holy cow, I've got to get that out of my head. You're here at X Games. Where are you at mentally right now? This is Thursday, practice prep. The show starts tomorrow.

Yeah, it's cool being back here. Normally we're back here racing, and I've got to tell you, I love doing this freestyle thing a lot better than racing. It's a lot more mellow. It doesn't look more mellow, but it is. It's me and the ramp out there. It's things that we've practiced a lot. You don't have 20 other wildcards going into turn one. The whole logistics of it feels a lot more simple.

We got new ramps this year. For me, it's not a new ramp, it's just a snowmobile ramp, but it's all new. Everybody else is crossing over from the super kicker into the next gen. I've never even hit the super kicker, so I had nothing to worry about there. They've got a good setup. We tested it the first day and the jumps were a little janky, but we've matched them up good now. The crew out here has been doing a killer job listening to the riders and getting us as comfortable as we can be to throw down.

Taking feedback. I love it. Heck yeah. So when did it actually hit you that you were going to come back here to X Games and compete? Not on a snow bike, but on a snowmobile.

I was actually slotted to judge. I was supposed to come in and judge snowmobile. So I knew I was coming to X, and then down the pipeline, some things happened. There was a snowmobile from factory Polaris that they needed a rider for, and basically I just had to go hit a setup and see if it was something that could work. So me and Tiffany and the dog drove down to Idaho and got together with Willie Elam. He had a nice practice setup with an airbag, super safe. I rode his old Ski-Doo 600 for 5 or 6 days till I got my new 9R and then transitioned into that. Honestly, it's been a pretty smooth transition.

A few hiccups with learning thumb throttle during tricks. If you're upside down doing KOD flips, your hand's moving, so your fingers can get caught on the throttle and whiskey throttle it. So it's learning how to either avoid that or use that big power to your advantage. But other than that, the physics and the tricks all feel very similar to bikes.

So just so everyone's clear, this is your first go on a snowmobile on a freestyle track.

Yeah. Well, yesterday was the first time I was actually riding on snow, because we were riding on wheel skis in a dirt loop with turf for the whole month practicing. So yesterday was the first time I actually rode a freestyle sled on snow.

That's awesome.

Yeah, it's pretty cool. Nothing like it.

Just starting at X Games, right? Jumping right in. Good show. So what do people not see? You've been prepping. What don't people know about the work you've been putting in out of sight?

Well, honestly, everything's been out of sight. I think I made one post in the last 3 weeks running up to X Games here. So to put it clearly, nobody knows. We've been taking every day and working up slowly. The first 3 days, we started on a small gap and worked it back. It was a very comfortable process. It's scary stuff we're doing, so obviously you've got to push yourself a little bit, but it felt good, and every day it felt a little bit better. You sleep on something, it feels better. So it's slowly getting used to all the different things that sleds have that moto doesn't.

We've mentioned this already, but what does it mean to Cody? I know you were here on snow bikes before. What does it mean to you to see and hear snowmobiles back here at X Games?

I'm just super stoked that motorsports has made its way back. Talking to everybody in the industry, you go to dealerships, you go to ride meetups, wherever you go, there's always talk of, is X Games even happening? What's going on with that? Well, it actually has been going on every year, even through COVID. It just looked different. Motorsports just weren't back. So I think it gets a whole second half of a generation involved in the X Games. It brings up the viewership of the ski and snowboard, it brings up the viewership of the whole event. And motorized sports usually draw the biggest crowds here, too.

That's what I heard. This is our first time here, but we've talked to some people and that's cool.

Once the engines start firing up, you'll see crowds start making their way over here. There's just nothing like it. These things are big, they're mean, they're spitting snow, they're loud, they've got screws in the tracks. It's just gnarly.

So out there on the course, the line may be a little bit blurred, but when it's go time, what's the line you're either willing to cross or not willing to cross this weekend?

Based on practice, I practiced hard and practiced all the tricks that I want to do. There's nothing that's a big wildcard for me. I feel very confident in everything that I'm going to bring to the table. It'll be about throwing down a smooth run and not missing things. Everyone out here can ride good. There are a lot of guys that have a lot of flip tricks. So it'll be important to throw down a clean run and race the clock a little bit. We were originally supposed to have 90 seconds. Now we're down to 75. So if we can squeak in an extra hit over the rest of the guys, that helps.

So speed.

Yeah, find different ways to try and elevate the run.

Okay. And right before a run, what are you telling yourself? Are you pretty dialed in? Pretty loose? Do you have a little ritual you do?

I do like to warm up. I like to warm up my abs, my knees, jumping jacks, get the blood flowing. Let myself know that it's go time. And then you've got to slow down, too. I'm not a big guy about hype. It's all about slowing down, centering yourself, being in the moment and telling yourself you've got this. There shouldn't be doubt.

Love it. After this whole weekend's over, the show's over and all the clips are out there, what are you hoping people will say about what you do here this weekend?

I just hope it's a good showing. Like we said, it's my first X Games here under the snowmobile tarp. I've got no targets on my back and nothing to prove. So I'm here to have fun, throw down and enjoy the experience, a little bit more laid back experience, even though it seems like it shouldn't be that way, flipping sleds 75 feet in the air. But it feels more normal, because my normal day job is doing freestyle motocross in front of large crowds.

So that aspect of it is not new to you at all.

Yeah, for sure.

Cool. I have a couple of actually secret fire round questions I just remembered. What's the dumbest thought you've had cross your mind right before hitting the jump?

Hitting the ramp? Weird things. I don't remember where it was, but I was doing an indoor freestyle motocross show and they had a red light kind of behind and beside the setup. So as you're hitting the setup, it looks like there's an ambulance light on.

A red light. The last thing you want to see before you hit.

Yeah, things like that. And I had one a while back where I was locked into my toe hook getting ready to do a big no-hand flip. Mind fart, don't know what happened, I decided to straight air, and then went to do a seat grab, and my foot was locked in. I got all stuck on it, but I landed the jump safe and avoided doing a flip safely.

So sometimes those are hard, because when you drop into these 90-foot in-runs, if I'm doing a flip, I'm doing a flip regardless. It's hard to get distracted and pull out of that and do something else. You pretty much lock in. It's like being on a moto gate. When that 5 second board goes up, there's nothing else. So when we're on that in-run, our mind's made up.

For sure. So who are you most nervous to compete against this weekend?

Well, I think the big name in the sport is Turcotte. So I know he's going to be throwing down big. But other than that it doesn't really feel like a competition to me. It's just a bunch of buds going out there and another show. Just trying to go throw down my run, and wherever the judges put me, they put me.

What's one thing you're hoping nobody notices about your riding this weekend? Is there a little something you do that only you know you do?

I don't know. I just hope I look good on a snowmobile, you know? Feel good out there. I don't think there's anything to worry about.

Have you been able to watch any clips of yourself on a snowmobile yet?

No, we just got off our first practice here. I haven't watched it yet, other than our practice stuff from the last couple of weeks. I'm just excited to be here. Just excited to throw down my run and do everything clean.

Cool. Not putting too much stress on it.

Yep. Being loose, having fun.

There we go. Cody Matechuk, first one on the hot seat this weekend. Wish you luck, brother. Be safe out there.

Yeah, thanks for having me. Thank you.