Nathan's Story
Nathan ‘Nate’ Johnstone was two weeks out from competing at the 2010 Winter Olympics as the world number two snowboard halfpipe rider when he suffered an ankle injury in training and had to withdraw from the Games. Determined to realise his Olympic dream, Johnstone used his time between Olympics to become the first Australian to win the World Snowboard Halfpipe Championships in 2011. The same year he also won the FIS World Cup Crystal Globe for Halfpipe and the first ever overall Freestyle Crystal Globe.
He finally made his debut at Sochi 2014 at the age of 23. A gutsy semi-final performance was not quite enough to get Johnstone through to the final, missing out by just one place, finishing 13th overall.
At his second Games at PyeongChang, Johnstone put down an opening run of 62.25 but struggled with changing wind conditions in the pipe in his second attempt, and was unable to put down a clean run. He finished 22nd overall.
Outside of snowboarding, Nate spends his time at home in Sydney’s Northern Beaches with his wife Emma and their son Louis. He is also a talented surfer and spends as much time as he can at the beach.
