#Thisgirlcan snowboard better than you ever will and she’s only six

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Agence France-Presse
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Russian snowboarding prodigy Vasilia Ermakova has her sights set on the Olympics and X-Games

Agence France-Presse |
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Russian snowboarder Vasilisa Ermakova, 6, trains at the Kant ski club in southern Moscow on February 11, 2020. - Vasilisa Ermakova may be too young for school, but the six-year-old Russian girl has already made a name for herself in an unlikely profession

Vasilisa Ermakova may be too young for school, but the six-year-old Russian girl has already made a name for herself as a snowboarding prodigy.

She spends five hours a day barrelling down slopes outside Moscow and has even smashed a number of national records.

“She wants to go train every day and she asks for snow, even in summer,” says her mother Natalia.

Coached by her father – himself a former competitive snowboarder – from the age of three, Vasilisa has mastered 360-degree jumps off large snow banks and even 540-degree spins.

“I’m flying like a bird,” she says after landing one of the tricks.

Her Instagram account has attracted more than 36,000 followers and the attention of major sports brands that now sponsor her training.

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In summer, Vasilisa hones her skills on a skateboard and has set a Russian record in her age group for a descent at 48 kilometres per hour.

That record however did not make it into the Guinness Book of World Records, ironically because she is too young.

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“They told us that she had to be at least 16 to set such a record,” her mother said, smiling. “And Vasilisa has done it already.”

Anton, Vasilisa’s father, has high hopes for his daughter. “I hope one day she’ll win the X-Games,” a popular extreme sports event, he said. “Or that she’ll be an Olympic champion.”

 

Photo: AFP

Vasilisa shares these dreams, her mother says. “She says she wants to have lots of medals.”

But away from the slopes, Natalia says her daughter is “just a girl who loves singing, drawing, and snowball fights.”

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