Anton Nordström – Rookie of the year 2019 💪

One of Wicked Family’s sponsored riders is Anton Nordström. He is a young, very promising Swedish MX rider. 2019 he was voted “Rookie of the year” in MX1. Unfortunately, due to the virus, we haven’t seen him in action this year. But hopefully it won’t be too long until he will be able to reveal how his hard work during the off season has paid off. In the meantime we wanted to ask him some questions regarding his training and state of mind. We also got a chance to get some shots done in our new Wicked gear😀.

Tell us a little bit about your background? 
I’m 17 years old and I started riding motocross at age 2,5. My older siblings rode so as soon as I learnt to speak I told my dad I wanted a dirt bike. He said I needed to be able to ride a bicycle before I start riding motocross. So we took off the support wheels and I biked down the street and back. I stopped by my dad and just said “dirtbike” and from there it started. I have always wanted to be the best in the world and I have always been serious about racing. But it wasn’t until 2017 I realized what I had to sacrifice to be able to reach my goals and that is when I started to do the hard work beside the mx riding.

How did your journey look from start to where you are today?
I have made a lot of mistakes along the way but you have to make mistakes to learn. A lot of the mistakes I have made has to do with the fact that I started riding too early after injuries. That has destroyed many months of training and races. 

My goal has always been to be the best. But in 2018 I wanted to stop riding because of a crash that almost cost me my life. I was hospitalised for 2 weeks and the doctors told me that if I wanted a long and happy life I should consider quitting motocross. So I started to think of other things I could do instead, but realized quickly that the only times I have felt real happiness has been when I was riding my dirt bike. So I came to the conclusion that I’m rather be here for a good time than a long time😎.

What does a normal training week look like for you?
I am enrolled at Tibro Motocross high school so I have motocross/physical training in my school schedule which is really nice. I go to school from 07:30 – 18:00 Monday-Friday. I don’t only ride motocross at school, I also have normal lessons like history, civics etc… between 3-6 h a day. The rest of the time I ride motocross, workout and take care of my diet. 

My training schedule is a bit different from week to week but this is what it usually looks like: Mondays and Fridays are normally recuperation and bike work days or travel. So in the morning I go on a shorter bicycle ride with a lower heart rate for 1-2 h and then in the afternoon I workout at the gym. I normally ride MX between 3-5 days a week. During a ride day I always warm up for 20 minutes on the bicycle before I start riding. I always have a plan when I go riding so I ether do 30 min motos, sprints, technique or just play riding and sometimes I combine the different ways of riding. When I’m done riding I do 45min-1h cycling, core training and stretching. On the days I don’t ride (except Monday and Friday) I run/cycle sprint or work out in the morning and in the afternoon I do a 2-3h bicycle ride.

What kind of support do you have to reach your goals?
My biggest supporters right now is Ronnangsgard Racing (Daniel Rönnängsgård, Mathias Andersson, Johan Landin) They support me with everything I need to succeed. My mom and dad (Maja Graaf and Fredrik Nordström) are always there for me, helping me with my dreams. The Wicked Family supports me with the best looking Mx gear on the market.

So thank you guys so much for the fantastic support and thank you to all my other friends and sponsors for the support.

What would you say is most important to succeed, besides hard work?
You need to surround yourself with good people. If you have good people around you then everything will come into place. If you surround yourself with bad people, you will not be able to work hard, have structure and you will not be able to see yourself succeed because the people around drag you down.

I’m not the best in the world right now so I don’t have all the keys to be the best yet but I’m working on it. But if I still had some of people in my life that I had before then I would not be even close to were I am today. And if I didn’t have the people I have around me right now, I wouldn’t be were I am today and I would not be able to keep moving forward and improve.

How do you prepare to a race?
One week before a competition I get more precise with my diet and my sleep schedule. Which means that I go to bed at 22:00 and get up 06.30 and that I eat no candy, no fast food and I never eat meat, … The reason I don’t eat meat is because I have been a vegetarian my whole life and my body gets really slow when I eat meat. Watch “The game changer” on Netflix and you will understand why I and many other athletes don’t eat meat.

Two days before the competition I start eating and drinking more to make sure that I have energy and that I´m hydrated for the race day. On the race day I just do the same thing as I do on a normal training day. My warm up is the same, I get dressed the same and my “get in the zone ritual” is the same. One thing I do different is that I put my cap and my google bag on a toolbox to remind me to think of the tools I have, see my tools and use them. It´s a bit weird I now but it works for me.

What are your goals for the future?
My goal this year is to learn as much as I can, build my body to get stronger all the time and have fun every day. Result wise this year I want to be on the podium in the Swedish Championship and ride 1 or 2 EMX rounds (if corona doesn’t stop us).

 My future goals are to get as fast and strong as I can. And I know that if I keep working as hard as I do now then I will be battling for the World Championship in a few years.

What tips would you give others that has the same dream as you do?
Never doubt yourself, the only person who can make sure that you will achieve goals is yourself. Never accept defeat. Have the discipline of work hard. Luck does not exist, life will give you what you deserve.

What do you do not to get down during these difficult Corona times?
I’m being thankful that I’m allowed to ride (Sweden doesn’t have as hard regulation as many other countries) and when I ride I do the things I think are the most fun so I keep the love of riding high. The same when I’m in the gym or cycling

What phrase would describe you best?
“The harder you work the luckier you will get”

Team: Ronnangsgard Racing

Bike: Yamaha YZ 450f 

Sponsors: Ronnangsgard Racing, The Wicked Family, Yamaha Motor. RG3 Suspension Scandinavia, SOS Racing Parts, Brian Jorgensen MX School, LEJE Fastigheter AB, CEC Motorcycles, ONEGRIPPER, Dpa racing, Duell Sweden, Pirelli Tyre Sverige, CRM Compositi, Fredman Digital, Veidekke i Sverige, Compani 56, VP racing fuels Sverige, Yamalube, GYTR, Acrapovic, Tautech, Nordiskaskyltfabriken, Cercoconsultantsab, Ryno Power Europe

Thank you Anton for letting us know more about life. Hopefully it will inspire others to follow their dream as well 😀