WAKESHOP.BE interview #1: Victor Salmon
Welcome to the WAKESHOP.BE interviews!
the WAKESHOP.BE interviews are here to get to know better your favourite riders. We ask a questions to your favourite riders to share their insight with you!
There will be weekly new WAKESHOP.BE interviews like these with some of the biggest names on the scene so stay tuned!
For the first one, we are meeting Victor Salmon !
Name: Victor Salmon
Nationality: Belgian
Date of Birth:14/11/2000
Sponsors: Sponsors: Slingshot, ION, More Soap, WaxThat, TWP, Nova Energy, Quantum Boards
Victor Salmon is a young Belgian wakeboarder living in Thailand that is now on top of his game. Known for a long time as the young kid riding in Daniel Grant's shadow at Thai Wakepark, he s been coming in hot on the wakeboard scene in the past few years. Winning many major contest and nearly always on the podium, he is a competitor everyone should fear when it comes to wakepark riding. He is probebly one of the most talented and creative rider out there. Switch or not, it doesn't matter, he will pull some technical tricks mixed with creativity like you ve never seen before. We are very happy he took some times to answer some questions for us so you guys can get to know your favourite riders better. Give him a follow! Instagram: Victor's instagram Youtube: Victor's youtube channel
Questions to Victor
1. Tell us about yourself in a few words.
Im a Pro wakeboarder, trying to live the dream as long as possible hoping ill never have to live a normal life!
2. How and when did you start wakeboarding?
I started wakeboarding when i was 10 (9 years ago) I was staying at a friend's place and we were bored so we decided to go to the wakepark because i had never been and he would go regularly. I instantly fell in love with it and started going every week since that day.
3. What is your favourite wakeboard location and why?
Probably still thailand (TWP) because I live in Bangkok so I got loads of things to do besides wakeboarding so I'm not stuck at the cable all day everyday like most parks around the world as they often are in the middle of no where.
4. You are Belgian, do you ever spend time over there? Whats your home Park?
Yessir, I never lived there tho, I only go there in the summer time to visit family and when im there I usually ride at Terhills cable park since its right by my grandparents place.
5. You seem to perfectly control your movement while both foot are forward , do you feel any different than normal when riding switch?
I started riding on a right foot cable being left foot forward so i was forced to learn to ride switch and i feel like now i probably ride better switch and have more tricks on my switch side haha.
6. You grew up watching Daniel Grant rising to the stars, did that inspired you to ride like you do today?
Watching him ride when i was a kid was great because i feel like it always pushed me to get better because i would see him do all these insane tricks and would always be like f*ck i wanna do that too, so it definietly pushed me to learn new tricks as quick as possible to get to that level.
7. You won some Major contest, what's one of your biggest achievements to date ?
This past year ( 2019 ) might have been my best so far, ending up getting 14 podiums out of the 15 contests I entered and 11 win! The 5 wins i'm most proud of so far are probably: The plastic playgrounds in bali (2018) Fise montpellier (2019) Wake to paradise ( 2016 and 2019), Liquid force park pro (2019) WWA wake park world championships pool gap contest (2017).
8. One project, trip, session that is on top of your list, which one is it and can you tell us about it?
Hopefully a winch trip throughout the whole of Europe this summer, because I told myself I'm not making another video part on a cable park until i've filmed a full winch part!
9. What event are you the most excited about every season?
Plastic playgrounds for sure! Best setup, everyones there, great parties and the best cash prize haha.
10. How is it to be part of the Slingshot international family?
Awesome!
11. What is your choice of board from their 2020 collection and why?
Nomad 160 cause it's a great solid board with not too much flex and the biggest board in the slingshot range.
Slingshot Nomad 2020
12. What else do you do when not wakeboarding?
Skate, paint graffiti, go shopping, work on my clothing brand (More Soap), mess around with the bois, Tinder...
13. It looks like your are very involved in a brand called More Soap, What is it? Do you own the brand ?
Yeah so a few months ago me and my homie Arnon started a clothing brand Called More Soap, I've always been interested in fashion and clothing always wanted to oneday have my own clothing brand so this year after talking about it to him for a while we decided to try it out and see how it goes.
14. What/Who do you really dislike in the sport?
Busy cables and contest or companies that try to fuck over riders.
15. You wakeskate a lot! How does it affect you when riding on a wakeboard?
I've always enjoyed wakeskating because I used to skate a lot when I was younger before wakeboarding so it was always something I'd have fun pushing myself in when I would need a little break from wakeboarding. It definitely affected my wakeboarding by getting me to get more creative and try a lot of no foot stuff, like the double foot wallride I did earlier this year and kickflipping my wakeboard haha
16. You are a famous vlogger, right? Can you talk about that?
Not at all famous haha but trying to get there!
17. How do you see wakeboarding in 5 years?
Hopefully more Features only contest like plastic playgrounds, and a lot of 2.0 contest with crazy setups that you cant have on a full size like fise and munich mash. Also a lot more winch video parts, looks like more and more riders are getting into it which is awesome to see!
18. 3 riders that inspire you the most?
Dominik Hernler Halldor Helgason Torstein Horgmo I get a lot more inspired watching snowboard videos
19. 3 most beautiful woman on earth?
Emily Ratajkowski Kimmy Granger Julia Rose
20. Who will be wakepark rider of the year in 2020?
Hopefully me haha
21. Best instagram to follow?
Definitely mine haha or space mobs IG!
Pick A, B or C
Wide stance/ Narrow Stance? Narrow
Blonde or Brunette? Brunette
Tea or Coffee? Tea
Water or whisky Water!
Bum or boobs? Both
Breakfast or Dinner? Dinner
Day or night? Day
Boat, winch or cable? Winch & cable
Gin or Beer? Beer
Rap or rock ? Rock
Meat or veggies? Meat
Ice hockey or golf? Golf
Scooter or Rollerblade? None, they both make me puke.
Tv or book ? TV
IWWA or WWA? WWA
Beer or Wine? Beer
Rice or French fries? French Fries
Belgium or Thailand? Thailand
Sand or Snow? Snow
Fresh or salt water? Fresh
frontside wallride winching in France
one footer at TWP
1st place at back to school 2019 + 1st place at play hooky 2019!
Link to some of latest edits from Victor:
- 1st time wakeboarding since Covid-19 - Recap 2019 - Play Hooky 2019
Thank you for reading us, we hope you enjoyed this interview, next week we will meet up with the one and only
interview #2 (10/06/2020) : NICOLAS LEDUC
If you have special questions for your favourite riders, feel free to ask us what to aske them by writing us here
- THE WAKESHOP.BE TEAM -