INGEMAR BACKMAN

LEGENDARY INFO:

DOB: 4/1/1976
Home Mountain: Sweden
Stance: Regular

“The first to crack the sky.”

It’s safe to say that Ingemar Backman earned his place here with one shot—just one go at a quarterpipe. As Ali Goulet puts it, “Ingemar was the first guy to crack the sky with his twenty-five-foot air on the Riksgransen quarterpipe.” The photograph—which halted all passersby, snowboarders and non-snowboarders alike—in front of newsstands, evoked such statements as “Holy f**king sh*t!”, “No way!”, and, as Gian Simmen classily phrases it, “One of the nicest backside airs ever.” The shot was impossible to avoid, as it graced the cover of every snowboard magazine around the world, save one. Ahem…

That shot was make-it-or-break-it not only for Ingemar, but for cinematographers and photographers, as well. One Mack Dawg filmer lost his job for running out of film as the man dropped in. Rumor has it he heard the film run out right as Backman reached the pivotal tranny. As Ingemar rose, the filmer’s heart sank.

Mack Dawg and Ingemar had begun to aid each other’s freestyle reputation with the explosive closer in Meltdown Project, filmed just a year prior to "The Air". Ingemar was elevating switch spins to a whole new level, all the while to the beat of the Dead Kennedys. One of his finest performances came in 1995’s mid-season release of Kingpin Productions’ Substance, complete with the highly illegal use of The Beatles’ “Paperback Writer.” Again, Backman stepped up his game with one of the most technically progressive freestyle parts ever.

Unfortunately, Ingemar soon fell victim to a series of career-threatening injuries which he could never completely rebound from, as he kept getting crapped on by the gods of luck. In his heyday, Ingemar Backman Trast was one of the finest—if not the finest—pokers in the biz. Comically enough, he has recently reinvented himself as one of the best professional poker players in the world, taking home piles of cash rivaling the height of that revolutionary method.