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Terje Håkonsen

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Terje Håkonsen is a professional snowboarder from Norway. Many people call him one of the most influential riders in the history of the sport.

He changed how people look at snowboarding. He is known for a flowing style of riding. He is also very good at riding on all kinds of terrain. This includes riding in a halfpipe and freeriding in deep powder.

Some people even say he revolutionized nearly every part of the sport.

His riding involves many different ways of moving through the snow. He is famous for his skills in the halfpipe, which is a large U-shaped snow track. He also excels at freeriding on big mountains. In 2005, he was the first person to snowboard down peak 7601 in Alaska. This was shown in a movie called First Descent. He can also perform big air tricks. In 2007, he set a world record for the highest air. He reached 9.8 meters above a quarterpipe during a contest in Oslo.

Terje grew up in the mountain village of Åmot in Norway. He was born on October 11, 1974. As a young boy, he was very athletic. He did athletics, cross-country skiing, and jumping. He was also on his local football and downhill ski teams. Because he was so good at football, people called him "little Maradonna." He began snowboarding in the autumn of 1987. He used borrowed boards at first. By February 1988, he bought his own second-hand board.

His career was full of many big wins and famous names. He won the ISF World Championship in halfpipe three times. These wins happened in 1993, 1995, and 1997. He also won the US Open Halfpipe Finals three times. In the 1991-1992 season, he won 14 international competitions in a row. He met a famous rider named Craig Kelly. Kelly became a mentor to him. At age 15, Terje traveled to the USA alone. There, he signed professional contracts with Burton Snowboards and Oakley.

Terje cares deeply about how snowboarding is organized. He did not want to follow strict rules from other groups. He even boycotted the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano. He felt the sport should be run by snowboarders. To fix this, he created his own contest called The Arctic Challenge in 2000. This helped start the World Snowboard tour. Today, he also helps others through his work. He helped start the Funkisstiftelsen foundation for people with physical disabilities. He also works with Greener Events to help the environment.

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