Jesse Parkinson is a freestyle snowboarder who was awarded a Tier 1 Scholarship within the 2023 Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship and Mentoring Program. His Mentor is former ASP World Champion, 1991 Rip Curl Pro winner and Surfing Australia Hall of Famer, Barton Lynch.
Born in Redcliffe QLD, Jesse’s love of board sports started when he was just 3 years old however, it wasn’t on a snowboard. Growing up on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, Jesse showed prodigious surfing talent; he spent the early part of his childhood surfing the beach break across the road from home at Yaroomba, and the renowned point breaks of Noosa. He was well down the pathway of pursuing a career in surfing before a family holiday to visit friends living in Niseko, Japan when he was 8 years old changed everything. On that trip, Jesse had his first real taste of snowboarding and the rest, as they say, is history.
Once again, his natural talent and obsession with board sports was evident and Jesse spent the next Australian ski season on the slopes of Perisher and Thredbo, where he learned the fundamentals of riding park and pipe. In just his third season on snow, Jesse took the Australian Junior Champion title and went on to hold the title for three years.
One of Jesse’s specialty disciplines is Slopestyle – think a skate park on snow with rails and jumps – and the other is Big Air which, as the name suggests, involves one massive jump where the riders go as big as they can whilst performing highly technical manoeuvres and landing on what is essentially ice. Both disciplines involve being judged on style as much as technicality, and each carry some genuine danger.
Early in 2022, at just 16 years of age, Jesse headed to Europe for his first competitive international season. Incredibly he placed fifth in his inaugural World Cup event and ended the season with a senior international ranking of #33.
As with all snow athletes, Jesse spends most of his time away from home as he continues his quest of becoming the world’s best boarder. When he is home, he enjoys getting back into surfing, music and is looking at commencing a Communications degree at the University of the Sunshine Coast after finishing school.
“I don’t think I can overstate what an amazing opportunity it is to receive this scholarship and have access to a mentor at this time in my life, particularly when that mentor is Barton Lynch. He’s had incredible success in a sport that is notoriously demanding and been just as successful in life outside of sport. It will be an invaluable experience to learn from someone who has faced the challenges of competing at the highest level like constantly being away from home and family, managing competition stress and injury, and keeping things fun and fresh when training and competing in high consequence environments. I’m beyond grateful and excited.”– Jesse Parkinson on being selected as a 2023 Tier 1 Scholarship Holder.
Honours & Achievements
- 2018: Australian Junior Championships – 1st
- 2021: ANC Cup New Zealand – 2nd
- 2022: World Cup Georgia – 5th
- 2022: Europa Cup Poland – 4th
- 2022: World Junior Championships – finalist
- 2023: Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship Holder
