DANNY MACASKILL - THE APPROACHABLE STAR

“Right from when I was very small, I loved everything connected with bikes and cycling. My passion will never end”, says Danny MacAskill with a smile.. The Scottish-born trials professional is now one of the icons of mountain biking, has turned his passion into a career – yet still comes across as a rather gentle figure. Now 33 years of age, he was quick to recognize the opportunities of social media platforms for reaching people. This raised his popularity worldwide, but also led to a growth in his capacity for inspiring others. His videos on YouTube have received more than 350 million clicks, among them are works such as “Epecuén”, “Way back home”, “Wee day out” or his latest creation “Danny Daycare”. His wealth of ideas combined with his humour and ability to laugh at himself are what single out his productions. An example of this are the out-takes he includes of scenes that didn’t quite work out just to show that even this star can have failures and has to work hard at everything – without losing his youthful spirit and natural ease on the way.

Yet Danny is not just a viral celebrity. He now reports on the trials acrobats for the New York Times, Hollywood hires him as a stuntman and he has been nominated for the Laureus World Sports Award as well as for the National Geographic Award. The breakthrough for Danny came in 2009, practically overnight. His Video “Be inspired” received hundreds of thousands of clicks shortly after it was uploaded – and the tricks and leaps caused a sensation in the MTB scene. A new star was born and has been inspiring young people and cyclists ever since to just get out more and simply cycle. He is a role model – although he doesn’t see himself as such. “Of course I’m aware that lots of people, and especially children, follow my life and like what I do. But I’m not trying to be an idol and am not doing anything different than I did before.

On his own recently founded YouTube channel, he’s planning to set up new, exciting projects in future. “I have so many ideas that I want to bring to life and now have more free time to actually see them through as well”, explains Danny. He’s not concerned here with daily training runs, but is also looking to have something special and inspirational as the main attraction. “My kind of videos are different from the common YouTube videos that you see every day. This is something that I want to continue”, he says.

And yet Danny is also a star who remains approachable. In 2014, he founded the “Drop and Roll” tour, where he calls in on bike events or festivals and demonstrates his stunts and leaps. “This gives everyone a chance to see my crew and me live.” The tour regularly calls in at Friedrichshafen during Eurobike, too – and that will no different this year when he is due to appear on the Festival Day open to the public (Saturday, 7 September 2019). For Danny, this date is a must. “It’s really nice to have the complete biking world at one venue. I always meet a lot of friends and partners during EUROBIKE . And I’m also looking forward to the innovations from the individual brands. See you there!”