Patrick Burgener (born 1 June 1994), better known as Pat Burgener, is a Swiss professional snowboarder, two-time Olympian and musician. Pat joined the Swiss national team at the age of 14 and landed the world’s first Switch Backside Triple Cork 1440 in April 2011.[1] Pat competed for Switzerland in the men's halfpipe at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang where he finished 5th overall.[2] He earned two bronze medals in the halfpipe events at the FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Championships 2017 and again in 2019. Pat was named to his second Swiss Olympic Snowboard Freestyle Team on 18 January 2022.[3][4][5][6] He represented Switzerland in the men’s halfpipe at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing where he qualified for the finals and placed 11th overall.[7] His career results also include nine World Cup podiums, five European Cup podiums and seven Swiss Champion titles respectively in halfpipe and early on in big air.[8][9]
In addition to professional snowboarding, Pat has been pursuing a parallel career in music since 2014. The singer-songwriter has released four EPs so far: The Route (2018), Icar (2019), Better Man (2020) and California Sun (2021). With over 4.4 million streams on Spotify, the song "Staring At The Sun" from the 2019 EP Icar remains Pat’s most listened-to track to date.[10] His song "Allons Danser" ("How About A Dance") was commissioned as the 2020 Swiss Press Song for the 2020 Swiss Press Award.[11] Pat was named the SRF 3 Best Talent for August 2021, an award through which the Swiss Radio and Television honours up-and-coming music acts from Switzerland.[12] His latest single "Work It Out" came out shortly before he competed in the 2022 Winter Olympics.[13] Pat has performed solo or with his band at various festivals and venues across Switzerland, including the Montreux Jazz Festival, Zermatt Unplugged, Sion sous les étoiles, Gurtenfestival, Caribana Festival, Kaufleuten and others.[14][15] He has also performed in New York City and has been featured in Swiss Live Talents Showcases at Mondo.NYC, New York’s Annual Music, Arts & Technology Conference & Showcase Festival.[16] Pat's mother tongue is French, and he also speaks English and Swiss German fluently.[17]
Sports career
Snowboarding achievements
Below is a selection of Pat's major career highlights.[18][19]
2009 Burton European Junior Open, Halfpipe, Laax, Switzerland – 1st
2009 Burton European Junior Open, Slopestyle, Laax, Switzerland – 1st
2010 FIS World Cup, Halfpipe, Kreischberg, Austria – 2nd
2010 FIS World Cup, Halfpipe, Valmalenco, Italy – 3rd
Pat's first single of 2022, "Work It Out", was released on 28 January 2022, one week before the start of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, where he was set to compete in the men's halfpipe.[26][27] "I really wanted to release the song now because it's part of my Olympic story," as Pat explained, and to draw on it as a source of motivation and positive energy before the competition.[28] He wrote this song with his brother Max in the difficult period following his serious knee injury in a snowboarding accident in spring 2021. The song's message is that difficult situations – whether in relationships or in daily life – can be overcome with a positive attitude and a smile.[29] "Work It Out" was featured on Swiss German-language Radio SRF 3 as the song of the day on 3 February 2022.[30] "Work It Out" is the first song of Pat's forthcoming first album to be released in the latter part of 2022. Pat also directed and edited the official music video that was filmed by John Osterman on a Malibu beach in California.[31] In April 2022, Pat released an acoustic version of this song and a new YouTube video, this time recorded and filmed in Lausanne, Switzerland.[32]
"Low"
“Low” is the second single of Pat’s forthcoming debut album. He co-wrote the song with his brother Max Burgener and released it on 13 May 2022. The single was produced by Tom Fuller.[33] This is not their first collaboration – Tom Fuller also produced Pat’s fourth EP California Sun (2021), and the single “Work It Out”, Pat’s personal anthem for his 2022 Olympic snowboard odyssey. Pat shot the official music video accompanying the release of "Low" during the 2022 Winter Olympics in China, where he competed for Switzerland in the men’s snowboard halfpipe.[34] The music video is titled "Low: A Journey at the Beijing Olympic Games", and Pat directed and edited it by himself. Taking the viewers behind the scenes of Pat's Olympics experience at Beijing 2022, the video includes footage from his arrival at Beijing airport, the Olympic Village, and Olympic competition sites, as well as an excerpt from the RTS Swiss TV programme “Au coeur des Jeux” which featured him on 7 February 2022, in an episode called “JO, Made in China: Pat Burgener”.[35]
