Last year while sorting through photos from Europe, Billy noticed some great shots and said, "Oh, that's Iouri. He's the Russian-Swiss kid Terje and Jan (our European team manager) are hyped on". After fumbling with his first name a few times we found "Your- EE" but did not bother with his last name. You ready, here you go, PODLADTCHIKOV. Well, soon enough a friend over at Santa Cruz made it simple and dubbed him "I-POD".
I-POD, has a personality you want to be around. He is very polite, unassuming and strides with excitement in every step. His riding follows suit and this winter he showed it. He started the season with a 2nd place at the Air and Style Rookie challenge then a 2nd at the Burton European Open and capped it off with a 2nd at the Vans Cup in Tahoe.
We met in Vermont for the US Burton Open, when I ran into I-POD at the gas station, with a Russian- Swiss accent and great charisma he explained to me "Everything has been stolen, my passport, clothes, my shoes...everything." A very interesting situation for an 18-year old on a solo trip to the States and with that enthusiastic grin he shrugged it off, and told me he'd be ok and not to worry.
Well, he made it home no problem and no passport. Not sure how that one worked but when I caught up with him via email, he was busy doing homework but made time to answer some question for his team page. Welcome to the team I-POD.