Cooper competes in Slopestyle, Big Air and Halfpipe. He is the youngest freeskier on the Snow Sports NZ National Development team and is based in Queenstown, NZ.
Learning both way double cork 1440's in the 2022 New Zealand winter, 2022 NZ Freestyle Series U14 overall champion, competing in his first FIS ANC event at the 2022 Winter Games NZ.
Cooper was born in Dunedin in 2009, but he has lived in Queenstown his entire life. When Cooper was three his parents took him skiing for the first time at Coronet Peak.
Cooper went on to partake in his school skiing programme, and fell in love with skiing. When he was eight he took part in the Park & Freeride Programme at The Remarkables. After getting a taste for the park he decided to join Cardrona's HPC programme for the next two years.
In the 2021/22 season Cooper's HPC coach took him overseas to LAAX in Switzerland to train at the world class terrain parks there. Cooper explains how this was a pivotal moment in his skiing, getting to ski the big parks and train alongside the professional skiers who were there.
In the 2022 NZ winter Cooper started training with Brad Prosser as part of the Snow Sports NZ National Development Programme.
Cooper is heading to LAAX in January 2023 with the National Development Programme, he looks forward to competing in his first international competition (FIS Europa Cup) and aims to finish on the podium at the World Rookie Tour Finals. In the 2023 New Zealand winter Winter Games NZ will be hosting the FIS Park and Pipe Junior World Championships where Cooper hopes to represent New Zealand and finish in the top 10 in all three disciplines.
In the coming years Cooper aspires to compete in his first World Cup events and see new countries as he trains and competes around the world. His main goal is to qualify for the NZ Team and compete in the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympic Winter Games.
Cooper dreams of one day standing atop Olympic and X Games podiums in Slopestyle and Big Air. He also aims to feature in a ski movie with his friend Kazuma and Walker Woodring and would love to film alongside pro athletes Ferdinand Dahl, and Quinn Wolferman.
Cooper is inspired by Norwegian skier Ferdinand Dahl because of his style and he makes awesome movies. He is also inspired by American skier Alex Hall because he is the best in the world at skiing and is super creative.
