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Matias Roche doing what he does best in Secret Garden, China. @fisparkandpipe

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On The Radar: Matias Roche

By: Scott Naismith March 02, 2026

Hailing from the industrial end of France’s Maurienne Valley, better known for aluminium plants than X Games dreams, Mathis Roche hasn’t followed the typical French freestyle pathway.

Self-managed trips, summers spent earning a living as a paragliding instructor, and the occasional night in a van to make a start list has been Matias’ path. Raised in a family of flyers—his father a paragliding adventurer who has launched from the world’s seven highest summits—Matias learned early that if you want altitude, you earn it.

Now, after a breakthrough season that nearly never happened, the 22-year-old has found his way onto the biggest stage in skiing: The Olympics.

We caught up with a grinning Roche just before New Year to talk nose butter triples, imposter syndrome, and why his “final season” changed everything and ended in an Olympic start.

Scott Naismith: Salut Matias, where did you grow up skiing? What was it like?

Matias Roche: I learned to ski in Aussois and Val Cenis. 

I started freeskiing early. When I was really little, they did a show in Val Cenis where they built a small kicker and did demos for the tourists. I saw those guys doing back flips and stunts and I really wanted to do the same. So I joined the freeski club at Val Cenis. We didn’t have a snowpark, though, so we just built our own jumps to shred.

I progressed quite quickly and made it onto the regional team, the Comité de Savoie, and did four years of competing in the Europa Cups with this team. We didn’t have school in the winter, so we could ski as much as possible. 

On The Radar: Matias Roche

Instagram
@mat_roche

Age:
22

Hometown:
Aussios, Maurienne Valley, France

Sponsors:
Atomic, El Tony, Loubsol, The North Face, Level Gloves

 

At the end of high school, my parents asked me to pay for the season because it cost ten thousand euros a year to be on the team, it’s really expensive. So I had to work if I wanted to keep skiing.

I know this is the case with plenty of talented young skiers in France. Eventually, as they progress, it becomes unsustainably expensive and they have to give up on their dreams, not for lack of talent or ability. How did you manage that?

I had a lot of luck because my parents taught me how to paraglide when I was quite young—they are professional paragliders. So once I finished high school, I became a paragliding instructor.

1. Soaring above the dunes of the south west France. Family Archive
2. Making a living in the air is in the family blood. Family Archive

A lot of young skiers are really talented but they can’t keep going with it, most of the time it’s because of the money. They don’t have a job that pays well enough, quickly enough to progress. 

I was lucky with paragliding, I could easily make money during the summer, which gave me the opportunity to keep pushing my riding.

I think at the beginning, I had some good tricks, but I was never consistent. I couldn’t put down a run in a comp and that was really frustrating. Being consistent is the hardest part. Getting hard tricks is kind of easy, sort of, but to be consistent is what is more important and difficult. To get there you need experience and to ski a lot, and for this you need to have money.

I remember the first time that we met, we the judges, took you to Prato Nevoso for a Europa Cup. But you weren’t part of a team or a club. You were kind of independent, right? 

After I left high school, I didn’t want to go back to the Comité de Savoie because you don’t have any control of your own budget. So, I went independent to have control of which trips I went on. I feel like this time without a team or coach built me up, I learnt a lot. 

You slept in our car in the car park the night before the contest because you didn’t have accommodation right? Certainly character building.

Yeah because the rent started the next day, so I had to spend the night in the van. Well actually that night, there might have been a girl that I met, so I went and stayed at her place—so it wasn’t too bad actually. I actually think one of the judges also matched her on a dating site that same night…

Matias getting blunted in the side country of Courchevel. Arthur Bertrand

No comment. Very resourceful of you though.

Last winter turned into your breakthrough season, but it almost didn’t happen right?

At the beginning of last season, I had decided that it was going to be my final season competing and chasing this dream. My goal was to get a podium in Europa Cup so that I could ski instruct in France without doing the long ski instructor qualifications. 

I was just thinking about making everything that I spent on this dream over the years worth something, you know. I didn’t want to give up before having a podium. Without that I wouldn’t have too much to show for all the time, effort and money that I, and the people that supported me, put in. At least with my ski instructor qualification, it would all be worth it.

When I won the Big Air in La Clusaz, everyone was so stoked. I was one of the oldest on the circuit, so a lot of people knew me and knew my goals. At that point I had achieved what I wanted, and everything that came after was just an unexpected bonus.

1. Boosting backcountry booters. Arthur Bertrand
2. At a training camp in Saas Fee, facilitated by recent sponsorship deals with El Tony and Atomic Joseph Roby

After that win in La Clusaz, it didn’t end there. Following good results at the start of the season, you earned a place at the World Cup in Tignes, and made it into finals.

I was so happy with my performance, it was crazy. But I was so stressed when I got into the final, I was feeling like I was an impostor, you know. I cried just before going to the training. I didn’t know what I was doing there, it was so scary. 

But once I was on my skis, everything went really well. I really wanted to do a nose butter triple cork 1980, but the jump was a little bit too small, so I had to stick to the 1620. I didn’t know it was going to score that well. I think I was really lucky with the timing of the trend of nose butters coming back. It was like bringing back the glory days of the nose butters from Dollo ten years ago, so I think that I got lucky and took that opportunity. 

1. Getting after it in his adopted backyard of The Three Valleys, France. Arthur Bertrand
2. Matias had no idea he was going to the World Championships—he thought it was just another World Cup. @fisparkandpipe

After a great performance in Tignes, I was selected to go to Silvaplanna. I didn’t understand it well at all, I thought it was just another World Cup. I didn’t realize that it was the World Champs until I was there.

So again, I had the feeling of being an impostor. But I didn’t want to be a one hit wonder, so I gave it everything I had, to have no regrets. And I think that’s kind of the spirit from now on. 

We are rapidly approaching the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics. What do the weeks leading up to that look like?

I am going to be spending some time training without the team, it’s like a full circle moment. The goal is to train as much as possible before the Olympics, but yeah let’s see, the Olympics are going to be so fun. 

Dropping into his first World Cup Big Air Final, having as much fun as possible, as always. Auxance Malga

Best of luck for the Olympics, hopefully you will be celebrating after Big Air.

Even just being there at the Olympics is already a celebration for me. Last year, if you told me that I was going to the Olympics, I wouldn’t have believed you. It wasn’t even on my mind. Life’s great, it’s so crazy.

One last thing, your childhood friend Nathan Pequer-Col wanted me to ask you about the Spider-Man trilogies…

Which one?! Haha, the first one is the best. We had a ritual with Nathan, that every time we went to Livigno, we would watch every Spider-Man movie. So, actually, that’s a great reminder for me, I will need to watch them as soon as I arrive in Livigno for the Olympics.

Good luck in Livigno, and remember, with great power comes great responsibility. Merci Matias.

Matias Roche earns his keep in the air, both in summer and winter. Alexis Vernis

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