The first ever African American to be sponsored by a major ski resort is back home in Metro Detroit after competing in his very first World Cup.
Local 4 first told you about “Flyin Brian” back when it started generating buzz on a national level.
He’s Brian, he’s Flyin, so what better name than Flyin Brian Rice?
He is taking time out of his busy schedule to talk to Local 4 on the heels of competing in his first ever Snowboarding World Cup in Switzerland.
“I put down my run, and I did really great. I am absolutely blessed for that opportunity to shine. I had an amazing first performance. Better than a lot of people do at their first big competition like that,” Rice recalled.
Brian may have placed 24th out of 55 in the Big air portion of the FIS Snowboarding World Cup in Chur. But he’s in a very unique position. Members of the current U.S. Olympic team are ranked both above and below him.
“Hopefully, the U.S. team is gonna put me in a couple more world cups. Some other high-quality events, and from there, it just keeps going up,” Rice added.
Of course, he’s got big dreams of making it to the Olympics, and his future is bright. But Brian likes to live in the moment. “Anticipation comes with everything. No matter what you do. Everybody’s always expecting for your next big thing. For me, I don’t like to worry about that. My main focus is to just keep doing me,” Rice explained.
While he’s back home in Farmington for a short time, he focused on his new part that will soon be premiering in the new Warren Miller video. Brian will be traveling to Salt Lake City for the premiere on October 28. The same video will air at the Farmington Civic Theater on November 12 at 10 p.m.
“Now it’s just a matter of time before they see that I’m putting in twice as much work as everybody else,” Rice insisted. Rice will be training for the next set of competitions taking off in January.