With the Winter Olympics behind them, the winter sports athletes still had a round of National and World Championships to contend with so we were delighted that Freestyle Skier Kristi Richards, one of the ‘Faces of DJO’, managed to find time to talk to us after she won The Canadian Championships in Calgary. We started by asking her how she felt after what must have been a very tough competitive year.

“It feels pretty good to finish off the year with a Gold at the Canadian Championships in Calgary, having started the year with a Gold and a Silver at the two Suomu Finnish World Cups. The last few weeks of the season have taken a lot of strength.  Every day has been a challenge to click into my skis and find the energy I need to ski how I want.  I am proud that I stepped up to the plate in the last two contest days to win the qualification and the medal round.  It means a lot to me to know that I can always find that extra little bit to push through.   I had to do a lot of self talk and a lot of breathing to get myself in the zone to compete well there.  It was not an easy course, and my knee was giving me problems.  I just wanted to finish off the season well and work through some technical goals.  I focused on the simple things here; taking the opportunity to learn, enjoying the sunshine, and projecting to each mogul.  This got me through the day, with the help of some breathing techniques in the gate.  I challenged myself mentally this contest with being in the moment.  I felt like I had a lot of control of how I was handling my emotions and how calm or excited I was.

“The product that I’ve been using most this season