Player's Own Voice

Player's Own Voice podcast: Brady Leman's mental game

The Player's Own Voice podcast catches up with Canadian ski cross racer Brady Leman to explore how he stays calm at the centre of a chaotic sport.

Reigning Olympic ski cross champion finds peace amid the mayhem

Calgary's Brady Leman celebrates his win in the men's ski cross final at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea on Feb. 21, 2018. (Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press)

As the reigning Olympic ski cross champion and multiple X Games and World Cup medallist, Brady Leman is not one to cut corners in the gym. The 33-year-old is a conditioned brick of muscle.

But for such a physical specimen, Leman is a surprisingly devoted student of the mental game. 

Against the mayhem and injury of competition, Leman works at mindfulness, visualization, and meditation, and is more convinced all the time that psychological training is what's driving his world-beating results.

Staying calm amid the storm is what it's all about.

Player's Own Voice podcast host Anastasia Bucsis gives Leman the room to expand on his thinking about the best mental strategies for competitors.  After that, she reminisces with her fellow Calgarian, about all the ways their home city supported developing winter athletes.    

Before his journey through the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, Leman wrote about the need to make his own luck. Like the entire CBC Sports' Player's Own Voice essay series, POV podcast lets athletes speak to Canadians about issues from a personal perspective. To listen to Brady Leman and earlier guests this season, subscribe for free on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Tune In or wherever you get your other podcasts.