Let's start with your childhood - where did you have your first experiences on snow? And how did it all start? You were born in Athens and lived by the sea, so skiing is not the first thing that comes to mind. What is the tradition of skiing in your family?

I was very lucky to be born into a ski family. Not into a racing family, but into a skiing family. My father ran the ski school on Mount Parnassos and was the fishing representative for Greece. Skiing was simply a sport that my family loved and we were busy with it every vacation. But yes, when I was growing up, it was nothing more than a passion and a hobby.

When I was 12 years old, I moved to Austria for the winters and had to adjust to learning a new language and getting to grips with a new culture. skiing was initially just a kind of by-product of getting to know this new culture. And to be honest, the first year and a half of ski racing in Austria was a disaster for me. People made fun of me, but for me it was something I really loved. And then, I think two years later, when I was 14, I started winning some Austrian Cup races and that was the first time people saw that I might have some potential.

When I had to move to Austria for the first time at the age of 12, I definitely rebelled against the idea. I was young, all my friends were in Greece, I wanted to be independent, hang out with them, play basketball, socialize, etc. When I was taken out of my group and sent to a foreign country with a foreign language and people I didn't know, of course I wasn't happy about it at first. But I learned how to make friends through skiing and how to build my social circle around the sport. So it was definitely good. Looking back now, I'm very happy that I have different worlds of social cultures, I have my skiing friends and my non-skiing friends. I think it's a poor excuse to say that you sacrifice your social life for sport.

You were 15 when you moved again - to the USA. Was it easy or difficult for you to get used to a new home in just a few years?

Moving to the USA was a difficult decision. I had already mentioned that I had to leave friends. Now I had friends in Austria and friends in Greece, and I had to leave all that behind to move again. This time to the USA. But again, I was lucky that there are some great people in this sport, so despite moving to a new place, a new language and a new culture, I was able to fit in well.

Yes, there are definitely differences between skiing in Europe and in the USA. I was in Colorado, where it's extremely high and the snow is very dry, whereas on the east coast it rains a lot and is very icy. We drove a lot on ice and hard surfaces. And here in Europe you have a bit of everything. So the variety and the luck of being able to ski in all these conditions while I was growing up was definitely an advantage for me.

Personally, I've raced quite a few Europa Cups and NorAms. But when I was younger, I think I should have raced more NorAms than Europa Cups. When I started competing in World Cups, I was always in the 50-60 range because I had already competed in the Europa Cup and my points were higher than they should have been. It would certainly have been good to race a whole NorAm season and learn how to win and how to get through a season with consistency and speed. So they're two very different things, but I think if you're a North American, the NorAm is definitely very, very important, but also being in the European Cup, where there are not just two countries represented in every race, is extremely beneficial.

Was your World Cup debut something special for you? Can you still remember the special atmosphere in Madonna di Campiglio?

Yes, my first World Cup was like a dream come true, and back in 2014 we also had the traditional US Ski Team rookie haircut. I grew up with very long hair my whole life and I remember cutting it off and telling myself that for my very first World Cup I was going to cut it off and get the mullet (mullet). I got my hair cut by Ted Ligety and the other veterans of the US ski team and it was a great moment for me and a dream come true. My first race in the big slalom weeks and then also in Madonna in the night slalom, that was just incredible.

The decision was made in the spring of 2020. I was cut from the US ski team in the spring of 2018, tore my ACL and meniscus the following year and came back to skiing in 2019/20. I had a pretty good year, won some NorAm races and then Covid hit. When I finally asked the ski team if I would be back on the team, they told me they didn't know. At that point, things were a bit chaotic because of Covid. But I saw the opportunity to ski for Greece. Competing for Greece in the first year was definitely not easy. We had no money - all the money I got was basically privately funded by sponsors and I didn't have big results to attract more potent sponsors. So we did it on a shoestring budget, but looking back now, three years later, I'm definitely in a better position than I would be if I was still on the US ski team. The funding is better, I can choose where, when and with whom I want to train, we're more flexible and it's easier to travel. There are good and bad sides to not being part of a big federation, because there are some things that are a lot of work for me. But in the end, this is my passion, my project, and I am very happy that it has turned out this way.

Skiing is a very demanding sport and there are a lot of races during the season, so a lot can happen. The year before last, I fought my way back from a cruciate ligament injury and started slowly. I had to get back into the rhythm and had a few races. The skiing was good, but it just wasn't coming together. And then it finally worked in Chamonix, at the World Championships in Meribel and then in Palisades, which was a bit unfortunate because I was apparently on the wrong side of the gate and the win was disallowed. But in skiing you have to see everything in the big picture, you can't micro-analyze every single race. For me, the big picture is how the skiing works and if the skiing is good, that's the most important thing.

For me, Fischer is an important reason why I ski at all. My father had the ski school and was the Fischer representative in Greece, which is the only reason I started skiing. And of course I started on Fischer when I first got on skis and that continued through to my FIS years, my NorEm and European Cup years and the World Cup. Being with a company that I can trust and on the other side, how they believe in my abilities and my team, that's one of the most important things. This year we were able to be part of the development of the skis, we did a really good job and made some steps forward. Hopefully the company sees it the same way. And yes, I've never skied on anything other than Fischer.

Do you follow other sports? What are your hobbies? And what activities help you to relax between races?

I love sports, everything from basketball, American football and soccer to athletics and gymnastics, anything that is competitive I love to watch. I've always enjoyed playing sport myself, it's a big part of my life. I like to go to the gym and train my body, it's one of my favorite things to do and when it's all done I play a bit on the Xbox.