Inspired by Eileen Gu and Su Yiming, next big thing in snowboarding is Chinese 11-year-old who loves jokes and big air
- Patti Zhou was born in Beijing and is now based in Colorado, where she is expected to make her Dew Tour debut this weekend
- From planning a joke book to making up names for animals on the mountains the youngster is just enjoying life on the slopes
The Beijing Winter Olympics is already inspiring the next generation, and an 11-year-old snowboarder from China tearing up the slopes of Colorado is proof of that.
Patti Zhou is already being talked about as the next big thing in the sport, and her chance to show that could come as early as this weekend, when she makes her Dew Tour debut in Cooper Mountain.
The Beijing-born athlete, who is now based in the US, is expected to compete in the halfpipe and super streetstyle competitions on Saturday, and the halfpipe high air and best trick jam on Sunday.
She might have even been a halfpipe or slopestyle contender at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy – if only there weren’t age requirements, and the fact she won’t be 15 yet. It’s the same thing that kept two-time Olympic halfpipe champion Chloe Kim out of the 2014 Sochi Games.
Zhou, who loves a joke as much as she loves snowboarding, said that would just give her more time to learn bigger tricks like one of her favourite halfpipe riders, Olympic gold medallist Ayumu Hirano from Japan.
A first snowboard lesson when still only a toddler sparked a love of the sport and her mountain surroundings.
