So on my days off from snowboarding i have been a tourist, visiting the city and watching the other sporting events. I have also been making use if the facilities here in the village and the gym being one of them. It's one of the best and biggest gymnasiums i have ever used and provides all your workout needs for a sportsman/sportswoman. So before i head back to the snow in Scotland i have made use of getting myself stronger to help me throughout the rest of the season. Last night team gb had a gathering and it was great to see our Gold medalist Amy Williams wearing her medal! The sheer weight of it could make the neck ache after a while! this coming Sunday is the closing ceremony so i really look forward to that.

Sorry about the website crash. It crashed due to an increase in views so now it's fixed and should be all good!

A quick update on my doings! Now i have had more time on my hands to do stuff i have managed to go watch some hockey games and also managed to go support the british curlers. I have been into the city centre and seems to be a really good vibe with all the different country supporters. I am off out in to the city again to go explore some shops and visit the Red Bull lounge they have provided for us during the games.

What a week it has been for me! After 3 days training the snowboarding event finally took off mid afternoon. The halfpipe had been shaped better than ever! The perfect structure could send you 20 foot plus into the air and safely catch you into it's transition again. It was an amazing feeling. My first run in qualification had a slight error so i quickly set myself to concentrate on my second run which went better. The annoying thing is that i'm never happy with my riding no matter what. Gladly my second run took me to Semi finals so when i saw the results i was absolutely thrilled! At this point my target top 20 was a definite. In semi's things didn't go much as i wanted it to but i gave it my all and finished in 18th overall. The crowds were really supportive and i was amazed with the whole experience. I can say i would definitely like to return in 2014 with enough tricks to take me to the podium. Until then, back to the drawing board!

Today was the second day of practice and the weather beaten halfpipe wasn't in the best of conditions due to it being very bumpy in the bottom. The actual shape of the walls were perfect and i managed to get sections of my competition run down so i'm sure everything will be fine for the big day. Just one more day of practice left before it's game time!
The whole experience here is like nothing before. The canadian hockey superstars have all arrived before they start to play. It's been very busy here for me but i'm sure once i have finished competing i will have some time on my hands to go support the other british athletes. For now, i'm just off to the recovery room to loosen up and relax and get some rest.

Last night was an absolutely awesome night after that amazing opening ceremony. The atmosphere was incredible! After a long days waiting we marched underground through the tunnels of the staduim and waited for our turn to enter. Eventually when we saw the blue lit entrance we were handed our flag and Shelly Rudman led us in. here is a video of the Canadians walking in.

Today has been a long day. As soon as the team arrived in Vancouver we were immediately welcomed by the local staff, public and volunteers. It's amazing how much support everyone gives!
When we got to the Village we were debriefed on the days schedule which included a flag raising ceremony and a social welcoming with the attendance from Her Royal Highness. It was great to meet so many supporters and have a chat with Princess Anne. BBC presenters Ed Leigh and Sue Barker we there to show support and will be presenting the Games throughout. Off to bed now to get some sleep for the opening ceremony tomorrow!

Last Monday the arrival of Lord Moynihan and Andy Hunt from the British Olympic Association took us to the very top floor of the 90 meter high ski jump tower where they had a social gathering. It was a great and unusual venue and all the athletes got to try on the suits that had been tried on during the kitting out. Today Lord Moynihan and Mike Hey came up to watch my training session in the Calgary Olympic Park Halfpipe. Just one more day left before most of the team head over to Vancouver!

Well i'm afraid to say our team lost in question of sport. It was a great laugh though. Today started off with some light runs in the halfpipe, nothing hard. It has been really nice weather here since our day of arrival. This afternoon we went to cheer on the mens Curling team as they competed against a local team here for practice before the Games. I spent some time with Skiers Chemmy Alcott, Ed Drake and Rob the Phsyio on the Nintendo Wii for some serious training swinging hula hoops and head butting footballs. It has been a great laugh having all team gb members together. I will miss it when the Games are over!

Yesterday we decided to go down to Calgary's Saddledome, home to the Calgary Flames hockey team and got to experience the amazing crowds and of course great hockey! The rival team were the Carolina Hurricanes and the Flames managed to beat them 4-1 which gave a great atmosphere. Tonight the British Winter Olympians will be going up against each other in Question of Sport. find out which team win tomorrow!

So after a busy day yesterday i decided to take a day of rest and go in to Calgary City with Lesley McKenna and the British Freestyle team. It has been an awesome day, getting up to our normal antics and we ended up going to the Calgary Tower, a massive structure built with a revolving restaurant on top! The view over the city was amazing. I finished it off with a recovery session in the gym to help get rid of any stiffness in the legs.

Well this is it! the last World Cup before the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. I managed to land my first run in semi's and that put me in to the Finals. This has been the 2nd time i have ever got this far in the World Cups so i was just happy to make it this far. Once i landed my first run i got a score of 40.3 which put me into 2nd. On the second runs i was pushed into 3rd with an amazing run from French man Arthur Longo. My second run kept me in 3rd so i am super happy. This has put me in a very good frame of mind for going in to Vancouver and has been my best result so far in my Snowboarding Career!

Another early morning for me as my jet lagg continues. I had the World Cup qualifications first thing this morning and i was in Heat 1 so the jet lagg actually came in handy for once! I managed to land both runs in the qualification and my second run put me through to 8th place and into the semi finals tomorrow where finals will shortly be followed. I felt i could have done my runs a lot better so will make sure to do so in the next round. For the rest of my day i am doing some active resting and my physio will be working on my legs to rid of any lactate build up. You can find out results on http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/604/610.html?sector=SB&raceid=8618

So when we arrived, we were kindly welcomed by the members from the British Olympic Association and taken to our hotel. The hotel has literally been converted into Great Britain! We have everything at hand including an athletes lounge with computer consoles and big t.v's, a recovery gym full of bike machines and physio beds, a room with an ice bath, which i used today and our own restaurant with amazing food! Apart from all that amazing stuff i have had to focus on a World Cup here this Saturday. It is the first time i am using a World Cup as practice because i have already qualified for the big O. It's a great feeling! i have one more day of training before the competition gets under way.

I'm in Terminal 5 now after a day of trying on all the new Olympic clothing at the BA HQ at Heathrow to make sure it fits! The amount of clothes they have given us is unreal! I am now flying from London to Calgary with British Airways for the team GB holding camp where the team will adjust to the jet lagg and do last minute training. Things seem to be getting really exciting now!

My second front cover! This picture was taken in Umeå, Sweden on the Nike 6.0 photoshoot

So yesterday consisted of an early wake up call from the drug testers, a small ear operation and filming with the BBC. The ear operation was just to sort out some pain i had so no need to worry!
The Filming for BBC involved giving presenter Mike Bushell a snowboard lesson up at Scotland's Glenshee for the sport on Saturdays Breakfast news. Other news, the BOA will officially announce the team on the 26th! Until then i am working on fitness and catching up with friends and family!

Well results are up and i ended up finishing 18th overall. I was a little disappointed but think that i managed to ride the best i could. After qualifying 4th in the next round in to Semi's i eventually got bumped out of finals by two places. It was a really good week and managed to meet up with everyone last night during the Nike 6.0 team meal. I am about to jet off home now and do a last week at home before i head to Canada. I will be filming with BBC for their breakfast show up at Glenshee and continuing my training.

The first round of the European Open started today and the Halfpipe Pre Qualifications kicked off with a couple of good runs which took me to first place in my heat so i have to wait until Thursday the 14th until the next round to compete. I was super happy with my runs so hopefully everything goes to plan for the rest of the contest. You can follow up on results on http://www.opensnowboarding.com/LiveCoverage.aspx?openid=BEO

Well i'm sure if your British you would know that Scotland has had it's best snowfall in a long time so i have had my fair share of ventures up to the local mountains and even tried my local golf course for some snowboarding action. I am currently packing my bags for my next trip to Switzerland for the European Open. Here are a couple of magazines from this year that have just done articles with me.

Well it's that time of year again and i am back home with my family and celebrating christmas and New Year. When i arrived home Gordon Lipp from Town and County has lent me a car to help me get to and from my training sessions which has been a massive help and takes the ease off stealing my parents cars. I have just been up to The Lecht, A local ski/snowboard mountain. I have never seen such good conditions in all my life! To get all runs open on any of the ski centres in Scotland is a rarity. So i enjoyed a day cruising the slopes with my friends.

So during my trip to Colorado i went to the indoor training facility where you can learn to progress your basic skills before using them on the mountain. There were trampolines, foam pits and all sorts of things needed to get used to flipping them feet over your head!

Here is a video of my first run at the Copper Mountain Grand Prix 2009. This competition for me was all about trying out some new things and experimenting. It was good not to have any pressure so i could allow myself to try something a little harder than usual.

Well training has been going better than ever for me here in Colorado. Mostly to do with the perfectly shaped halfpipe. The weather has been very unusual hitting -27° Celsius on some days! Now it seems a snow storm is passing over. Tomorrow is the first official training day for the US Grand Prix tour where the US team battle against each other to get quotas for the Olympics. Many people come from all over the world to compete and test themselves against the best.

I had a nice early start this morning due to jet lag so by the time i set off for the mountain i was very much awake! The weather wasn't the best due to some snow fall and cloud but nevertheless the halfpipe was an amazing shape! I started out with warming up and getting used to the conditions so i didn't attempt anything out of my comfort zone! I managed to meet up with the International Grenade Gloves team manager, Jordan. He showed me the Truck that he transports around in and i have to say, i want one!

So I'm sat in British Airways' Terminal 5 about to depart for Denver, Colorado. I had to catch the first flight this morning so had to get up at the un-earthly hour of 3am to get to the airport in Aberdeen! I am getting super excited for joining the rest of my team mates and friends and going snowboarding again. I have an hour journey from Denver to the foot of the mountains in Frisco.
For this trip i will be mainly concentrating on learning new tricks and perfecting on the old tricks. I will keep you updated on my progress!

Back home until Tuesday 1st December when i will be heading out to Colorado, USA for three weeks. At home i have settled myself back into the gym, to try and quickly build myself up. I am also going to the physio to sort out all my niggles and just generally loosen myself up before hitting the mountains again. I will be meeting up with the Grenade (Gloves) team and hopefully go riding with two time Olympic silver medallist Danny Kaas! So i can't wait! Click on the grenade logo at the bottom of the web page to visit their website. I hope that by the time I arrive back home there will be snow on my home mountains...., I can't wait to ride in Scotland again.

So once again i'm fully packed up and ready to catch a flight to London where i will be visiting friends, seeing sponsors and having other various interviews and phtoto's. Last night i went to Chamonix, France where photographer Mike Weyerhaeuser let me stay and catch up on our stories. The Nike 6.0 shoot went really well and i finally got to experience the feeling of throwing the double cork 10's on to the airbag. The Film and Photo's are there for press to use for the Nike athletes that will be potential Olympians.

So i'm back in old Switzerland once again for a couple days filming and doing photo's for Nike 6.0
I just arrived and met all the team of riders, managers and film/photographers which include Peter Lundstrom (photographer) and Boris Benedek (filmer). I will be here for only two days so i will be trying to practice on the airbag they have here which allows you to try pretty much any trick you want because of the nice soft pillow-like landing. I will also be doing the tricks i am comfortable with for the cameras further up the halfpipe. It will allow me to hopefully try the double cork 1080 which seems to be the trick everyone wants this year before the Olympics so fingers crossed!

I have just returned home from the Saas Fee, Switzerland World Cup with another 14th in halfpipe. So that now gives me enough points to meet the criteria for the Winter Olympics! So now i have to wait until January for the official Team GB Olympic selection, so i have come home early to get back into training for my next trip to Switzerland for the Nike 6.0 photo/film shoot.
I have also just signed a deal with British Airways to help me with my progress for Vancouver 2010 so that is a massive boost and helps me travel that bit further in search for the snow!

So i have done my trip to Battersea for the London Freeze which just so happens to have been the busiest weekends of my life! In the World Cup Big Air i managed to get 14th which i am fairly pleased about considering my main focus this year has been with the Halfpipe due to the Olympics coming up. The weekend was busy with various interviews, filming and photo shoots for the british press.
Now i sit in my room back in Switzerland about to head up the mountain for the last day of training before the World Cup Halfpipe gets underway. Hopefully this will be my last qualifier i need to do for the Olympics! Fingers Crossed.

Now that the Metro ski show is finished for me i packed the bags and drove to Switzerland for a couple days. I stopped by Chamonix to see a good friend and played some Ping pong at his office there!
Now i am in Saas Fee, Switzerland to snowboard up until the London Freeze so this should keep me occupied up until then. I had my first day up on the Glacier today and it was very cloudy and snowy so it wasn't long until we eventually came down. Got the next 4 days snowboarding until i have to pack and head to London!

Well today started at the unearthly hour of 4am where i got up to catch a quick flight down to London for a press day. The likes of The Sun, Huck Magazine, Mens Health, BBC Sport and Newsround were all there so it was non-stop interviews! Now i have travelled to the centre of London for the Metro ski/snowboard show for the next couple of days.
I am off to go see my sponsor Nike tomorrow and say hello to them all in their offices.

If you were traveling today and picked up a Metro newspaper you may have seen an article i did. If you want to read the article then click on the photo below.
Other recent events will include an FHM photo shoot for next seasons apparel and outwear coming up!

Hello

I apologize for the website technicalities. But good news is that they are all fixed now!

Well it seems ages since i last posted a blog on here so i have alot to say! So since i filmed for the Paul o'grady show i have been out to Austria for some training and it turned out to be one of the most productive trips to date. Me and Sam Cullum stayed in a town called Mayrhofen which was 20 minutes away from the resort 'Hintertux' which has a glacier based at 3250 meters so it has snow all year round which is very useful to practice during summer periods.
At the moment i have returned home for some fitness training before i head to London for the Metro Ski Show which is a huge gathering for all snowboard/ski companies to show off their next seasons kit. I will be down for the first day before heading off to Saas Fee in Switzerland to get used to the halfpipe before the World cup there on the 4th of November.

Well thats me all packed and ready to hit London, Hemel Hempstead for the LG press release. I will be doing a pre record in the snowdome for the 'Paul o' Grady show' which i am looking forward to! Never would have thought i would be going on that! I will let you all know when it will be hitting that television box in your sitting rooms when i get given a date.
Throughout the day i will be doing other various interviews and photo's to promote the London Freeze event at the end of October held at the cities famous landmark Battersea Power Station.

LG London Freeze website is now live, hit it up at www.londonfreeze.com/lg

Well, i've just started getting back into my strength and conditioning training programme this week. I need to get my legs strong again for any unexpected heavy impacts i may have up on the mountain. I go to the gym 6 times per week and get Sundays off so i will be training up until the 29th when i will be heading down to Hemel Hemstead for the launch for the LG London Freeze press day.
I have also just booked flights to go to Hintertux, Austria for a week in October. The snow park is up on a glacier and is one of the best at this time of year.
Whitelines snowboard magazine came through the post yesterday and Nike 6.0 have published their first Uk adverts which was pretty cool. If you manage to get yourself down to the shops go pick one up!

I have just returned home from a busy day in Manchester at the Chillfactor snow dome promoting the new 'Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games'. It was a really fun day playing the game and giving the press what my views were and answering their questions about my Olympic progress. I had some great fun testing out the game and got to ride the cyber world of the Olympic halfpipe which will be held at Cypress mountain. The game will be out October 13th so go out and get it!

The rest of my day consisted of hitting a jump on to an airbag and spending time with the gaming magazine media guys and even got to do a photoshoot for ZOO magazine which was pretty cool.

For the rest of my time at home i will concentrate on my strength and conditioning programme in preparation for my next venture away to Saas Fee, Switzerland.

Hello and welcome to my new benkilner.com site

I hope to keep you up to date with all the exciting things happening in my world.

I have just returned home from a trip to Battersea, London where I was at a film and photo shoot for an LG advertisement. This was for the London Freeze event which will be held at the Battersea Power Station at the end of October. Keep an eye on the website www.londondfreeze.com.
I had to take my snowboard bag around with me through the busiest areas of London which is never easy when so many people crowd the city streets. Putting on my snowboard gear in the middle of London without any snow was a bit weird.

I am now back home for the weekend preparing for a trip to Manchester this Monday to promote a new Nintendo Wii Game.

Check back soon to see what I've been up to over these warm summer months.