What's It Like To Win An Olympic Medal?

Devin Logan was no stranger to competition when she set foot in Sochi this past February. Skiing since age two, Logan has improved over almost 20 years, driven by her love of the sport. Her many accolades include three X Games medals, a national Champion title, two Winter Dew Tour Champion titles and, of course, an Olympic Silver medal. She is best known for her relaxed style, which combined with hard work and relentless training earned her a spot on the slopestyle podium in Sochi.

We spoke with her the week after her Olympic win and got to meet with her again this October. She told us what life is like after winning an Olympic medal, let us know what she's looking forward to this season and spoke a bit about her hopes for the next Winter Olympic Games in 2018.

The Active Times: So what's it been like?
Devin Logan: since I last saw you guys, it's been pretty insane. I went on the whirlwind tour after the medal, ended up going to some LA pre-Oscar parties, meeting celebs like Ben Affleck, to setting up my 21st birthday in Vegas at the TAO. Thanks to Chris Santos, me and a bunch of my friends got treated like celebs and got to party with Jason Derulo. Yeah it was pretty sweet and then just kind of a mellow summer, it's been a while since I haven't skied in the summer and just wanted to kind of be in one place for a good amount of time. Then I've just been taking some college classes in Salt Lake at Westminster and getting ready for the ski season. Seems like it's been 5 years, with everything that's happened, but I'm excited to be skiing again and get back to a fun season.

What have you been doing to prepare for the season?
I'm just in the gym mostly, staying strong, doing a lot of trampoline training and water ramping. Keeping the muscle memories intact, so when I do tricks again, even though I haven't been on snow, I'll land on my feet.

Could you tell us a little more about your strength training?
Yeah, we work with strength coaches at the Center of Excellence in Park City, they put together a bunch of programs—I was a little out of shape after the five or six months of partying so just started off on a lighter note getting back to things. Worked on mobility, and stretching and then built up to lifting—getting the legs, glutes and knees strong, and upper body—pretty much everything. Stability training in the ankles and knees and just a lot of squats.

It's far off, but we have to ask—do you have plans to compete in the next winter Olympics?
I mean it is four years away, but it's definitely in my sights. With our sport, you have to take it day-by-day, cross your fingers and stay healthy. I'm focusing on this season but I think that's in the future, I want to go for half pipe and slopestyle again. I just missed the half pipe team by one spot, so that's a huge goal of mine, to make both teams and just be a dual threat.

What are you looking forward to this season?
Just getting back to having fun, I mean last season was kind of hectic with qualifying and then the Olympics all before February—it was a lot, like five competitions in five weeks. This year's schedule is spaced out nicely, so I'll have some time to relax and refresh my body. It's the same competitions as last year, the Dew Tour, the FIS World Champs in Austria, which I plan on doing, X Games and everything. Same ordeal but you don't have the pressure of making the team; you go back to skiing for fun, with not so much stress.

Are you sporting any new gear this season?
Yeah, I'm with some new sponsors, GIRO helmet and goggles, which is new for me. Same outerwear, The North Face, Monster Energy, Armada skis, Dalbello boots, Paul Mitchell again, which is great because my hair kind of gets gross being outside all the time.

What does North Face have you in this year?
We had meetings to pick some stuff out, but we don't know for sure until the beginning of the season. We pick out a couple different outfits that we want, but you don't know what's coming until it's here. All the new stuff is really cool, they're really in touch with the athletes, and they listen to us and make the brand more about what works for the skiers. They bring in pretty much everyone on ski side, on snowboard side, big mountain, park, and just get together to talk about the products—how they can make them better, what we want to see out of it—we're the testers.

We're pushing our sports to the extreme, beyond the average person, so if we wear the stuff down they know they need to make it stronger so it doesn't happen to the average person. I mean they have everything, from shoes from the ultra-marathoners to action sports gear. They were our sponsor for the Olympics and it was the same way, they got us together and took our feedback on how they could improve.

What's the biggest change since winning the medal?

Nothing really has changed; but it's definitely opened up doors to new events and I've gotten to meet some great people. The reason I'm in New York is for the Women's Sports Foundation Salute tonight. We had an athlete greet last night and getting to know different women throughout sport and just getting re-inspired is amazing. That's definitely one cool thing that has changed, I'm getting involved in different organizations, telling my story and hopefully inspiring young girls to continue on in sports and pursue their dreams.