Callum Watson Interview

A fun interview for you today as we chat to Australian Olympic cross-country skier Callum Watson! Callum takes us through his career, right from his beginnings in the sport and all the way through to his Olympic debut in Sochi 2014. He also talks about his horrific and freak injury he suffered after the games and the challenges he faced because of it as well as his knack for cooking, how he can help us get Nordic Combined on the map in Australia and discovering a bonding moment with Ben that pretty much makes them best friends.

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Visit Calum's website

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Please note this is an automated transcript that may contain errors.

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BEN WATERWORTH: Welcome back to Off The Podium, An Olympics Podcast, as we once again continue on our athlete interviews, our profiles, and the lead up to Pyeongchang 2018. Very excited to bring you our first taste of cross-country skiing. This is a sport that I'm always fascinated by every time the Winter Olympics rolls along. I always get fascinated by the sports that we just do not get at all in Australia. And of course, you've probably heard us talk a lot about over these episodes, the focus on some of the sports we get in Australia, obviously freestyle skiing, very big snowboarding, speed skating, a lot of these sports that Australia generally has the success in. But this is definitely a sport which barely even gets a mention. Even during our Winter Olympics coverage, they'll show highlights in the end of day packages. If you're watching loose highlights in the middle of the night, and they're showing random sports, they might show a little bit of cross-country skiing here or there, and of course update you on where the Australian athletes finish. But it's not a sport that you will generally get full-time streaming live coverage of. It's always a sport that fascinates me. Our guest today on the show is Callum Watson. Now, Callum competed in Sochi in 2014. He competed in four different events, and we talked to him about those. Talked to him about obviously getting involved in cross-country skiing and his career and some very other interesting things that have happened to him throughout his career, including a very horrific injury not long after the Sochi Games, which really, I won't even tell you a little bit about now. You've got to listen to the interview because it was a freak accident, a very serious accident, and there was a lot of implications that sort of came from this. Also, a great story about Callum breaking a record at the Australian Institute of Sport set by Australia's Tour de France champion, Cadell Evans, and it's a great story. There's also talk here about his blogging and a lot of things that he sort of gets involved in outside of skiing. And, and, there is a moment, I've got to say this, there's a real bro moment here, where Callum and I, we bond. We discover we have a very similar interest, which I don't often meet people with this interest. It gets me very excited. So, you will hear this. That's right near the end of the interview. Enjoy. This is a fun chat. This is Callum Watson, 2014 Sochi Winter Olympian in the sport of cross-country skiing. Continuing on, our athlete interviews in the lead up to Pyeongchang 2018. And as you would have heard so far here on Off The Podium, we've covered a variety of different winter sports, where we're attempting to get at least one person on one athlete from all the sports in the lead up to the Winter Games next year. And our next athlete is from a sport that we have not covered yet, that is cross-country skiing. And I, for one, am very excited for this chat, because as I've often talked a lot about on this show, I'm a huge fan of the Winter Olympics, I'm a huge fan of just the variety of different sports that, particularly here in Australia, we just do not get to see except for every four years. So to me, cross-country skiing is exciting because I never get to see it until they show it on Australian TV every four years. So today on the show, we have Sochi Olympian, he competed back in 2014 in the sport of cross-country skiing, and he's still going strong in the lead up to Pyeongchang 2018. Please welcome to the program, Callum Watson. Callum, thank you for joining us here today on the show.

CALLUM WATSON: No worries, thanks for having me.

BEN WATERWORTH: It's, as I said, exciting. I can't talk that up enough, because I could imagine this is something even for yourself, that when you get talking to somebody, and they say, oh, you're an Olympian, oh, fantastic, what's your sport? And you say cross-country skiing, that's automatically a story in itself, is it not? Particularly here in Australia, because I could imagine not a lot of people in some parts of Australia know a whole lot about cross-country skiing.

CALLUM WATSON: Yeah, well, that's kind of the main point right there. I mean, most people, when you mention cross-country skiing, they just envisage you walking around on the snow, like backcountry style and that sort of thing. And it is quite different. And yeah, it's good that people still have to know that.

BEN WATERWORTH: I've got to ask the obvious question, and I'm sure this is a question you've been asked plenty of times throughout your career. How on earth does an Australian get into cross-country skiing?

CALLUM WATSON: Well, I suppose I grew up in the snowy mountains region, and so I was doing a lot of track running and cross-country running. And yeah, I suppose I did a lot of downhill skiing when I was younger, and I did do cross-country skiing from a very young age too. But I suppose when I gained the more competitive side in me, I found that it was a really good sport to push yourself. I found the same feeling as I do when I run, but I enjoy the training for it a whole lot more. So it was a perfect thing for me. But yeah, as you're saying, it's quite a hard thing for others to get into. And yeah, it's not the automatic sport to choose, that's for sure.

BEN WATERWORTH: And I guess even kind of when it comes to like, just skiing in general, I would assume it's similar to say, athletics where you would at some point in your athletics career choose to say, do short distances, you know, middle distances or of course say like the marathon runners would then choose to do the marathon. So in this case, rather than doing I guess the shorter sprinting distances, like as you were saying, like the downhill or the slalom or things like that, you are I guess more of an endurance athlete. So then you switch focus to the cross country, because I mean, cross country skiing is essentially the marathon of the Winter Olympics.

CALLUM WATSON: Yeah, well, exactly. And I suppose a lot of it has to do with body type. And yeah, I mean, as a kid, I was built like a rake, and I sort of had no real other option. I kind of just fell into the endurance sports that way. And yeah, that's how it sort of goes, I guess.

BEN WATERWORTH: And what's the cross-country skiing scene like then when you were sort of getting involved? I mean, you're saying you sort of lived near the Snowy Mountains, so it kind of, obviously, a lot of people in that region, no doubt, are into the winter sports. But in terms of cross-country skiing at the time when you got involved in it, was there many other people? I mean, and still kind of, I guess, into that as well. Are there many people involved in the cross-country side of things when it comes to skiing?

CALLUM WATSON: When I first got started, I'd say it was very, very minimal. It is actually growing quite a lot in the more recent years. Particularly, the inter-schools program helps out a lot in getting the Sydney schools involved. It's a great way for the kids to earn more points for their schools. And as a result, the schools actually put a lot into it. And yeah, the inter-schools program itself has grown hugely since I was a kid. And you're getting a lot more involvement from kids that are from the cities doing it. When I was young, it was basically only us locals doing it. And yeah, now we're seeing a bit of a change in trends with a lot more of the national team athletes being made up of people from Melbourne and Sydney and so on. And yeah, that's predominantly due to the inter-schools program, I believe.

BEN WATERWORTH: One thing I've actually discovered in doing a lot of these interviews, and look, I could be completely mistaken here and I'm not expecting you to know the answer to this question because I don't even know the answer to this question. But I've discovered from such a state, Tasmania, that we're considered the coldest state in Australia, essentially, that's what people automatically assume with us. I don't think we've ever had an Winter Olympian from our state, Callum. I don't think that needs to change. I'm pretty sure. I can't think of any Winter Olympian from Tasmania.

CALLUM WATSON: Yeah, you'll have to start getting around and convincing people to get on to it.

BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, I mean, you would put two or two together and assume that. But look, I mean, my joke is constantly that it's kind of the dream of mine to compete in the Olympics. And I think that's long taken, you know, long missed that boat. But look, I'm still hopeful that if I ever am to make it to the Olympics, curling has my name on it. So I could be the first. Who knows?

CALLUM WATSON: Well, I mean, that's the thing. It's the winter Olympics is, you know, it's got a lot of variety. And, you know, that's that's the thing. A lot of the aerial skiers were former gymnasts. And, you know, it's it's a kind of it's kind of a good opportunity for people in Australia that have come from other sporting backgrounds that can fall into other sports. And, you know, the same with the same with Bobsled, the sprinters from track running can actually perform very well in Bobsled just because of their ability to sprint like that. So, yeah, it's it's quite, quite a cool thing.

BEN WATERWORTH: With with your sort of growing up in kind of involved in the sport, I mean, obviously your sister, Amy, too, is involved in the sport. She's also a fellow Olympian. Was this kind of like a family thing, like this was born and bred into both you and Amy in terms of skiing in general, or was this kind of you were the first two to kind of take this, take this on board?

CALLUM WATSON: Oh, look, I'd say I was following my brother and sister predominantly, particularly my sister was very highly motivated from a very young age. And I, yeah, I kind of didn't like getting beaten by my sister, so I kind of had to, I kind of had to start pushing it harder myself, I guess. Yeah, I, I believe that she had a very big impact on me when I was younger and really gave me that competitive side in me that, you know, I wanted to, I wanted to train hard so that I could, you know, gain success like her. Like she was the first of us to, you know, get on the national team and gain an NSWIS scholarship and things like that. And yeah, I think that was, that was a big thing. And, you know, my brother too, he, he was, you know, being two years older, always stronger and fitter. And, you know, I still clearly remember the day that I beat him. I suppose that was a thing that I was trying to do for a very long time. Yeah, I think as a younger brother, you've got that, you've got that real advantage in life that you can, you can really gain from that.

BEN WATERWORTH: And I mean, ultimately too, I can imagine the fact that both yourself and Amy make the Olympics at the same time as well. I mean, that's great for yourself, great for your sister, great for your family. I mean, kind of, it's all, you know, let's get on the plane to Russia, Watson Family Holiday, folks. We've got our two kids in the Olympics.

CALLUM WATSON: Yeah, like, I mean, the preparation involved as a family, as a whole, it was, you know, to be honest, it was so much preparation and dedication and effort went into it, not just from my sister and I, but from, you know, my mum, my dad, my brother. And realistically, to be able to share that with my sister and be able to make it happen, because, you know, it was a hard thing to do. And, you know, it was only just, we only just made it sort of thing. It wasn't a sure thing by any means. And, you know, I think it really just made it feel all worth it. It was, you know, there's a lot of sacrifices in sport. And, you know, that's that's not just from you personally. It's from everyone, everyone around you. And that really meant a lot to me. And I'm sure it meant a lot to my sister, too, that, you know, we're able to share that and, you know, feel the relief of making it all worth it in the end, that we'd all put that much effort into it. And, yeah, it was fantastic. It was just, as soon as I got the news that we both made it. Yeah, no other experience in life has been like that, for sure.

BEN WATERWORTH: And was that always the goal for yourself, at least there, Callum, to make the Olympics kind of as soon as you took up skiing? Was this, that's it? I want to be an Olympian one day?

CALLUM WATSON: I think, you know, very, very early on, I sort of probably didn't understand what was involved. So, yeah, I probably threw it out there pretty easily, that, yeah, yeah, that would be the thing to do, sort of thing. But I think it came a bit later when I saw other skiers, like when I was growing up, like guys like Ben Sim, you know, really, really showed me the way in terms of what you need to do in terms of training and how committed you need it to be. And I wanted to feel that. I wanted to feel that, you know, I put so much into it that I deserve to go. And, you know, that's what it's always been like to, I sort of am a bit addicted to this day, to feel the day-to-day progression of feeling like you're getting closer to a goal that you've set. And injury and sickness, it's a hard time because of that, because you feel like you're not progressing. And every day as an athlete, you depend on that. And I think once I really felt that day-to-day progression, it really became clear to me that I wanted to meet that end goal of, you know, meeting my goals in the Olympics, not just making the Olympics, but meeting my goals. And yeah, it's been a life-changer ever since, yeah, absolutely.

BEN WATERWORTH: When it comes to training, kind of going back to, I guess, my loose comparison in a way to sort of the marathon, I mean, is training for cross-country skiing similar to how marathons run and would train, or is there different elements to, I guess, you know, what you're doing, say, in the gym, your aerobic work, and things like that, given that you're not technically running, you're obviously on skis. I mean, can you take us through, I guess, what generally the training is involved when it comes to preparing for events?

CALLUM WATSON: Oh, look, marathon runners are bloody impressive. I ran a half marathon last year, and I did a good time, but it was not even close to the pace that they hold for 42. And so the training that they must do to get in that sort of shape is, it's got to be unbelievable. I think the difference is that we've got a lot of power involved in our sport too, so you do need to work on the strength side of things a lot too. Whereas in marathon running, it is all about your turnover, your efficiency and your VO2 max and being able to hold that for such a long duration. We do definitely have elements of that, particularly in the longer events which I focus on, but you need to have the power in there too. So you can't get by on just being aerobically the fittest man there is. You've got to have the power there, and you've got to have the technique to put it all together too. And that's the challenging thing. A lot of technique involved in marathon running for sure, but I think cross-country skiing is technically one of the toughest sports to get efficient. I mean, yeah, you can ski into the normal person. It looks quite efficient, but there's a big difference between the top guys and the guys at the back of the pack, for example. It's a constant thing that you need to work on and something that you need to focus on on a day-to-day basis. And that's the challenging thing, to do all the hours that are required and to also focus on getting that technique right. Yeah, it's tough.

BEN WATERWORTH: Because even when it comes to that, too, there are different styles, are there not, when it comes to the sport? So, like, classical, great name of skiathlon. I mean, and then obviously, like, the sprint. What are, I guess, the main differences between each of those events? Is it simply the distance? Is there a different style when it comes to each of those events?

CALLUM WATSON: No, so classic and skate, the two different techniques, and you've got the same events in each technique. So you've got sprint in both classic and skate, and then you've got the distance events. And they vary depending on the Olympic cycle and the World Championship cycle. So they will switch it up. So fortunately for Pyeongchang, my best event, the 15K skate is in the Pyeongchang program. So that's something that I'm really excited for. But that's the other challenging thing, that you've got two different techniques that are completely different. And yeah, it's very tough to get both of them right. And at the moment, I'm able to get the skating technique to a higher standard than classic at the moment. Classic's been a real challenge, as it is to many. A lot of people who start out do go for the classic technique, but it is easy to walk on skis in the classic style, but to actually ski fast, that's a different ball game. It's very, very challenging to get right.

BEN WATERWORTH: How would you best describe the differences between classical and skate? I guess for layman's terms, someone like myself or our listeners who maybe aren't too familiar with the styles, is there an easy way of kind of describing the differences between the two?

CALLUM WATSON: I suppose absolute layman's terms, go to ice skating at poles, and that's your skate technique. Classic, strap some skis on and go running. That's essentially the movement is completely different in that way. Classic, you're using the grip on the bottom of the ski, you're using a sticky wax to set into the snow, and you're pushing off that. Whereas skating, the ski is always moving, and you're always pushing out to the side on that ski. There are some similarities for sure, but even the muscle groups that you use are different for each year.

BEN WATERWORTH: And is it a common thing sort of with the styles for athletes to compete in multiple events similar to what you did in Sochi, or are there some that really only focus on the skate and some that only really focus on the classical?

CALLUM WATSON: I'd say generally most people have their preferred technique, and then you do have people who are at the absolute top of the game who are just so good at both, that they are able to dominate in both. Sunbi, Colonia, all those top names, it doesn't really matter. They can win World Cups in both, and I wouldn't even be able to tell you which they're better at. But for most athletes, there will be a preferred technique. And yeah, at this point in time, skating is the preferred technique for me.

BEN WATERWORTH: Look at obviously what the great Bjorn Dali, is that how you say his last name? I always think it's something else there, but I mean, you know, how many gold medals did he end up winning? Something ridiculous like that. So, I mean, you obviously got to see, you can definitely cross between the two and kind of come away with a bunch of medals, because it really seems like a lot of the skiing events in the Winter Olympics, like there's one thing I'll say for the Winter Olympics compared to the Summer Olympics. There are very few events you can win multiple medals in, whereas, you know, like Michael Phelps can walk away with a, you know, a medal haul from a small country. This, you know, selected sports at the Winter Games where you can win these multiple medals in.

CALLUM WATSON: Well, absolutely. I suppose there's... Swimming is the main one, as Michael Phelps demonstrated so well. But cross-country skiing is kind of similar in that regards for the Winter Olympics. There's not too many Winter Olympics sports where there's that many medals up for grabs. Biathlon also has a lot of medals up for grabs too. And the other sports don't really have so many events. And yeah, for the guys that are at the top of the game, that's why the Olympics is such a big thing. A lot of people pushing for medals, and that's why some people will just focus on the one event or try and, as Bjorn Dali did, just try and get as many as they possibly can. But yeah, it's quite unique like that.

BEN WATERWORTH: I remember during Sochi when I think Tora Bright competed in three or four different events, and they were sort of talking up how that was such a big deal for somebody in snowboarding to kind of do that, given that a lot of those styles are obviously between the half pipe and the snowboard cross are kind of very different. Whereas obviously, I guess, when it comes to cross-country skiing, I guess maybe slightly similar, but as you're going through the different styles there. I mean, yourself, you're competing in four different events in Sochi. I mean, that's incredible to kind of see that ranging, of course, from the sprint to the 30 kilometres, and you've got the team event as well. Is this something that kind of going back to, obviously, your preferred events, but do you go into a lot of these events, be it the Winter Olympics, the World Championships or any other sort of World Cup events, and try to do as many as you can? Or are you sort of getting to a point now where you're just focusing, say, on your preferred one, you mentioned the skating aspect. I mean, kind of how do you approach these now?

CALLUM WATSON: Look, I do sort of cut it back. I won't do absolutely every event, but for example, in Sochi, skate sprinting I'm actually okay at. I can actually produce some reasonable skate sprint results. So I went for that event. And as for this year with the team sprint in the skate discipline as well, I will go for that as well, given the opportunity. Classic, unfortunately, unless things change this year, is not something I performed well in in sprint, so it's not something I'm going to put any energy towards at this point. So it's all down to what you can perform well in. And yeah, you do cut it back. And for sure, like in other championships, where time is a bit more restricted, you do need to focus. But fortunately, with the Olympics, the events are drawn out over a long period of time, so you do have the opportunity to recover in between. So that's the other advantage that we have of being able to do a lot of events if you are able to be competitive in those events.

BEN WATERWORTH: So take us through such events. Did you leave satisfied with your results, your performances through all four of your events? Did you kind of think maybe you could have done a bit better in terms of what you were going in there and inspecting, and I guess also the overall Olympic experience too, how it all was?

CALLUM WATSON: I suppose the event that I was very satisfied with was the skiathlon. So at that point in time, that was probably a personal best for me. And that's what you can really ask for, I guess. With the other events, no, not entirely satisfied at all. The sprint was a disaster. I crashed out in the qualifying, and with the work time being so short, there's no way you can come back after a crash in that event. And unfortunately, ski speed was an issue in the 15K Classic. The conditions were very, very challenging to wax for, and unfortunately, it didn't go the way it should have. And that's the other challenging thing with cross-country skiing. Sometimes you just don't have the skis to get yourself to be competitive. And it happens to everyone. One of the guys who's won many, many World Cups and was a favourite for many events and such, he had the same issue in the same race, and he pulled out because he just had no ability to perform to his potential with those skis and the wax that was on them. And it's not just restricted to one nation. Even the big nations. Norway was incredibly upset with some of their performances at the Olympics because of that very reason. So, yeah, unfortunately, that was a big factor in that 15K. And fortunately with skate, that's the other thing I like about it. It's a lot harder to stuff up. You can usually get competitive skis a lot easier because you don't need to rely on having the grip wax sorted. So that's the other benefit of enjoying skating, that's for sure.

BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, it's such a fascinating sport and kind of just hearing about kind of all the little, you know, subtle things there that, you know, again, sort of us, people who watch it every four years, don't kind of get a hold of it. Does that come as an advantage or a disadvantage to somebody like yourself from Australia in terms of, you know, the heavyweights that you're saying, you know, the Norwegians, the Finns, you know, the Swedes, kind of all these nations that basically, this is their life. That's like, you know, Australian football or cricket to us, basically. That's the national pride for them. And yet, you've got a cross-country skier from Australia where it's kind of, well, you know, who's going to sort of expect them to be a danger. Does that work to your advantage? You can kind of go into these events, you know, even outside the Olympics, to say, look, I've got no expectations from any of the top nations or the experts here. I can go out and just show them what I made of and go under the radar the Australian way, I guess you could say.

CALLUM WATSON: Well, yeah, I suppose that the thing is that people see Australia on the start list and don't have they expect it to do badly. Let's be honest. And, you know, that's, you know, it's got its advantages because when you do perform, it comes to people's surprise. You know, ideally, it would be good if people noticed the good results and started changing that approach and realising that, yeah, Australia is on the map for skiing and particularly in the other sports like freestyle skiing and that like our athletes are up there with the best, if not the best in some of those disciplines. And yeah, I think that is gradually changing, but it is with, particularly with some of the funding of those bigger nations. You know, you're up against, you know, with waxing being such an important thing in our sport and to many other sports. You know, you've got these nations that rock up to World Cups with wax trucks worth millions of dollars and massive support crews. And it's very hard to compete against them because they've just got money to burn. They'll go and test 30 different waxes because they've got the manpower. They've got the funds to do so. They've got a massive truck with, you know, all the perfect set up to dial the skis in just the way they want them to. And that's the thing. When the guys get it right, which, you know, we've got a really good wax crew at the moment for our national team. And you know, the head guy Randy Gibbs, he was head wax technician for the US ski team for nine years. And you know, it's amazing that we've got him on board to really, really push us forward. Yeah, I mean, we're definitely restricted in our funding. But with some of the stuff that those guys can come up with, it's to their credit to produce competitive skis against some of those guys, some of those nations that, you know, just got so much at their disposal. So, there's challenges, but the rewards when it gets, when it all comes together are absolutely amazing. When the results come through as good results, the feeling of accomplishment is I suppose magnified just because of that. And that's something that I really thrive on.

BEN WATERWORTH: What is the key to some good wax then when it comes to cross-country skiing? I mean, is there, I guess, a certain type of wax that favours other waxes? Is it down to, I guess, testing it over and over? Are there, you know, breakthroughs constantly in the industry of waxing for cross-country skiing?

CALLUM WATSON: Oh, look, it's a real science to it. I do my own waxing here in Australia for the domestic season, but you know, I like to think that I do an OK job, but I'm certainly no professional in it, and there's just so much to it. It's all there's just a lot of different waxes that are for the same conditions, but some are going to run, some aren't going to run, and you need to test them all to see which are going to perform in that particular condition, because the snow is so variable. that's one of the tough things. And then you've got ski choice is another factor. That's why we need to travel with so many pairs of skis. I've got a fleet of 20 skis, and that's nothing. You've got other athletes that travel with up to 60, 70 pairs of skis to World Cups. It's all because of ski choice. You've got skis set for different conditions, whether it's hard, soft, icy, fresh snow. It's unbelievable. So, yeah, it's just so many different variables to take into account. That's why these guys are so brilliant. They know what's just and what conditions and how to get skis to run. Whereas, even for me, who's been surrounded by it for a long time, I wouldn't have a lot of confidence in waxing for myself at a bigger bent like that, just because you need to have that experience there.

BEN WATERWORTH: You must hate travelling sometimes, and if you've got that amount of skis. I could imagine going through check-in and all that sort of stuff with all of that. But sometimes there may be a bit of a pain in the arse.

CALLUM WATSON: It's challenging. With the classic skis being 205 centimetres long as well, getting through airports is a real battle. I absolutely hate travelling on planes full stop. It's just an absolute nightmare. Once you dump those bags and get them through without hopefully being stung for excess baggage, it's a real relief. I can tell you that.

BEN WATERWORTH: I'm never going to complain ever again if I've just got like one bag or something like that. I'm so sick of carrying this all the time. I'm like, I'll think of you next time I'm travelling on. Okay, this is nothing.

CALLUM WATSON: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's hard when you are travelling by yourself and you've got to carry all that stuff to the airport and all that as well. It's a heavy load. And to just have that's the thing though. You've got to you can't take more than what you can carry. So you've you've got to getting on and off trains and stuff. It's a disaster, I can tell you that. But it's something that you sort of learn a fine art of it's not cheating the system, but it's certainly making full use of being allowed to take coats and laptop bags and things like that and to carry on carry on luggage. For example, I didn't have a computer in my computer bag. I filled it full of Rolls-Royce wheels, which are actually quite heavy, and that bag, which they never weigh, was about 12 or 14 kilos.

BEN WATERWORTH: Wow, clever.

CALLUM WATSON: That's how you get the kilos up.

BEN WATERWORTH: There you go, there you go. This is the travel tips we're learning here. A couple of things that I found really interesting in preparation for this interview, you broke a record by the AIS by none other than our Aussie champion Tour de France winner, of course, Cadel Evans. Now this is the VO2 max test. And you got a score of 89.6. Now is this that test where you often see athletes and you're hooked up with all those tubes and you kind of look like you're in some sort of like space training or something along those lines, you're on like a bike and you're pedaling really hard. Is that the one I'm thinking of?

CALLUM WATSON: Yeah, yeah, you've got it. Yep. It's a pretty tortuous one. Yeah. That's exactly right.

BEN WATERWORTH: So you broke the record then by Cadell Evans, 89.6. Like how, how this obviously shows in that when it comes to your sport, the endurance factor is such a thing, particularly if you're beating someone who's won the Tour de France. I mean, how does it feel to break a record like that held by Cadell Evans?

CALLUM WATSON: I suppose it it's always been a advantage of mine. I've always, I've always had a good aerobic output. And yeah, when I broke that record, it was at a time where the training had gone really well. I was, I was feeling great. And yeah, I just, I managed to pump out a really good reading. And it just, it shows the the amount of demand that it is on your aerobic system to to be competitive in cross-country skiing. You you know, it's, it is a very big advantage if you can if you can produce a good VO2. It's not everything, that's for sure. You need to there's a lot of other factors that come into play. But generally, cross-country skiers do produce good VO2s just because so much of their training is highly aerobic. You're using and it's the same with rowing as well. You're using such a high percentage of your muscles in your body that it's incredibly oxygen demanding. And therefore, as a result, the training just elevates those results. Yeah, it came as a surprise. It was certainly a big jump up from my previous best result. It's one of those things that you know that you've got that advantage when you're out there on the racetrack. You know that, okay, you're competitive with the best of the guys in that aspect, and that can really help with your confidence.

BEN WATERWORTH: And is this record still standing, Callum, or do you know if it's been broken since?

CALLUM WATSON: I believe so. I haven't heard after that, so yeah, I believe so, but yeah, I may be wrong on that, yeah.

BEN WATERWORTH: We'll tell you, we'll say you are. That's fine. Somebody can correct us at the AIS if they're listening or something along those lines, but yeah, we'll say you got it. And also not long after the Sochi Games, you were in a pretty horrific accident too during a race. You had your lung pierced by a ski, I believe. How does this happen and how did the recovery go with that? I mean, are you recovered from that injury?

CALLUM WATSON: Yeah, well, that's the ironic thing to it, I guess, in this story, is that that has been my real advantage point, having such a good lung capacity. And yeah, what do you know, I managed to somehow get in an accident where a ski goes through my chest cavity and punctures my lung and causes quite a bit of damage. It was just one of those freak accidents. I've never heard of anything like it. And I can tell you when it happened, I certainly couldn't believe it. So yeah, it's just one of those things where you're at the wrong place at the wrong time. And no one's fault exactly. I just got caught up with another skier and fell in the path of the person behind me on a pretty fast descent. And yet that ski didn't have time to move. And his ski just went straight into the side of my chest. And it managed to the tip of cross country skis quite thin. And on that particular model of ski, quite sharp. And yeah, I certainly felt how sharp that was. And yeah, I never believed that it could actually cause that much damage. But yeah, it certainly proves that it's a bit more dangerous than a lot of people think. Yeah.

BEN WATERWORTH: So is that something then that takes a certain amount of time to recover? And has that affected your performance since? Or is this kind of one of these ones where sometimes athletes get a pretty severe injury, and they somehow seem to bounce back better from their injury?

CALLUM WATSON: That was a real tough one. I suppose the trauma involved was coming back from two. Yeah, I suppose having that happen in the first place is traumatic enough, but the experience in hospital afterwards with problems with the chest tube and quite a few lung collapses afterwards, and a lot of nerve damage and pain associated with that, yeah, that was tough. The only way that I could come back from it was to go all in, and unfortunately, I had a very unfortunate insurance dilemma that was associated with that. And that was the other thing that at the time really crushed me because it just made me lose faith entirely on a lot of the insurance company processes that go on worldwide. And you can be paying those fees for your whole life, and then when it comes down to it, you don't get looked after. And the fortunate thing was I was in an incredible amount of debt. What I used for my career, being my body, was not in any shape to be competitive in any time soon. And I was just incredibly lucky to receive amazing generosity from the global ski community. A massive fundraising event took place and raised all the funds that was required to cover that helicopter ambulance debt and the other medical fees associated with that. And yeah, it's something that still gets me a bit emotional now. I still have that as a major driver to continue ensuring that I get to my potential and whatever that may be, just so long as I get to the best results that I can achieve, because those people believed in me and they wanted to see me recover and bounce back. And that was what got me back so quickly. I had a lot of difficulty physically and mentally to get out of it, but that was a big part of it. And the people that were around me all that time in the hospital, my girlfriend who was there every single day, my dad there every single day, my mum and brother and sister and everyone coming to visit, friends, family, I couldn't have made it without them. Not back to this level. It would have been, looking back, it's unachievable to do that. It was just such a tough time that I relied entirely on that and something that I'll be forever grateful for. And it makes me so excited to get around to the Olympics again and to know that I have come back to a standard that's better than what it was before the accident. I've done VO2 tests again, and my absolute readings are just as good, showing that my lung capacity is back to what it was, and that's only due to the amazing work that the surgeon did at repairing my lung using a pretty unique technique. But it's all come together, and it's something that I'm really excited to make the most of.

BEN WATERWORTH: Fantastic.

CALLUM WATSON: This time around, for sure.

BEN WATERWORTH: Well, I'm not fantastic, obviously, of the injury, but fantastic that it's kind of come out with a happy ending, and that's obviously really good to hear the generosity and all the support that you did get out of that. And you mentioned the Olympics next year. What's kind of the process now between now and Pyeongchang? I mean, are you qualified already, or is it just a case of, you know, it's going to happen? What basically happens between now and February next year?

CALLUM WATSON: So the qualification process doesn't finish until late December. And so it's free for all, all the way up until then, according to results and how people perform in the qualification races and other races that are taken into account with the Fist Point list and international rankings and things like that. So you can never really be sure. At the moment, I'm pretty confident with where I'm sitting. And yeah, I just, I know that when I focus on the things that I need to focus on this year to improve further, I know that I can improve again. And I feel confident of where I'm heading. And yeah, very, very excited to hopefully be able to represent Australia again.

BEN WATERWORTH: Now, in terms of, I guess, you're obviously back home in Australia at the moment, but is there a domestic season now, given that it's just about to be winter in Australia? Do you hit the road overseas, I guess, in preparation, training, things like that at the moment? Kind of what's the short-term plan in the meantime?

CALLUM WATSON: So I have been basing myself in Sweden with my coach over there, and so I was over there for most of last year, and this year, I unfortunately, due to working visa restrictions, is forcing me to spend a lot more time here in Australia, but there's advantage of being here too, and I'm just trying to make the most of what I can with the service that the Australian team provides, and making use of the hopefully good snow conditions that we can get in winter. So, yeah, it's just making the most of the situation that you're given, and yeah, so at this point, I'll be staying until early September, then I'll get back over to Sweden as early as I can after that and continue working with my coach and train with some other very talented athletes that train on that team, and yeah, really try and make sure that I'm in the best shape possible leading into this coming European winter.

BEN WATERWORTH: For sure, for sure. Now, I've got a couple other questions here before I get to these little fun ones that we'll close this out with. I did mention to you a little bit off-air my slight obsession with Nordic combined. Now, basically this came about, Callum, during Rio last year, we talked up modern pentathlon a heap because, you know, any sport to me where you can combine multiple sports and call it one sport is awesome. And essentially, you know, talking up modern pentathlon as much as we did, we ended up winning a gold medal, you know, the great Chloe Esposito taking home that gold, so it kind of worked for us. So we're trying to talk up Nordic combined. Now, obviously, you're halfway there for Nordic combined. You just got to learn how to, I guess, ski jump. Is this something that, I mean, I think you did mention to me a fair about how it's kind of something you do start off young, but is this something even in Australia's ability? Like, do we have anywhere in this country we can ski jump to start off with?

CALLUM WATSON: No, no, absolutely, absolutely not. The ski jumping system is, it's such that you need to start out at a very young age on small jumps and then gradually increase to those massive jumps that they throw themselves off. Unfortunately, here in Australia, they have actually built some of the smaller ones in recent years, but it's just not the culture and the, I suppose, the background to it to really get athletes off the ground at this point. And that's the thing in Central Europe, where it's quite big. You've got clubs that get kids involved very, very early. And I suppose that's the only way that you're going to get people to end up feeling OK with going off some of those massive jumps. Do it when you're young and stupid, and then it becomes OK when you're older.

BEN WATERWORTH: Have you ever tried it, like when you've been in some of these facilities in Europe or North America? Have you ever strapped on the skis and kind of given it a crack?

CALLUM WATSON: Yeah, I did actually go off a very small one. I think it might have been 7 or 11 metres or something. And the Olympic level ones are 90 or 120 metres. So it was a baby one. But yeah, I can tell you that was enough for me. And I've stood at the top of quite a few of the big ones, and there is absolutely no way I have any urge to throw myself off one of those things. It's ridiculous. You can't see where you're landing. It's absurd. But yeah, all credit to the guys that are able to do it. I mean, it's pretty astonishing.

BEN WATERWORTH: I kind of feel that if we're to give this a real go. And can I just mention, Australia has actually had a Nordic combined ski. I've just discovered this. How Nurdahl competed in 1960 in the Nordic combined. He finished last, but he still competed. We've apparently never had...

CALLUM WATSON: Is that right?

BEN WATERWORTH: There you go. You've learned something today too. We've apparently never competed just in ski jumping by itself. But I feel like this is kind of like that Dale Begg Smith factor, that we need to get a disgruntled Norwegian who, you know, starts up some internet startup business who, you know, just can't crack the team. We'll poach them and we'll claim them to be our own. It worked for Dale Begg Smith, so why can't it work for us for Nordic Combined? Help me out here, Callum. We can, you know, steal someone for us.

CALLUM WATSON: Yeah, absolutely. Well, yeah, we can get some, get the word out, get some people interested.

BEN WATERWORTH: I think it can work. I mean, this is just such a great sport. I mean, seriously, who one day thought, I'm going to combine cross-country skiing and ski jumping? Like, that is just a brilliant idea. And this is the sport that I think people need to get on. Like, people, I guess, buy Athlon in some ways, similar in this aspect that it's kind of, well, cross-country skiing, but you shoot every now and then. But this to me is better. You're ski jumping. You don't need to shoot. Like, add the gun half way down the ski jump, then you make it even more awesome. But that's another story.

CALLUM WATSON: Yeah, no, interesting, though. We could certainly get some poaching happening. Just get some with a not-too-crazy name, and then it'll be all believable. And no worries, we'll just run with it.

BEN WATERWORTH: I'm impressed. We need to track down this Hal Nadal, if he's still alive. Our one Nordic combined athlete. According to this, he's still alive. Yeah, so he was born in 1927, so he'll probably be 90 this year. So, Hal Nadal, if you're listening, if you're a podcasting fan, then hell, shoot us a message. We'll get you on the show. Biathlon, am I being too nice to biathlon, or am I trading it too calmly? Is it simply cross-country skiing or shooting, or is there more to biathlon than I'm giving it credit for?

CALLUM WATSON: Look, I've tried biathlon before, and it is amazing what they do. I grew up on a farm, I've done a lot of shooting, a lot of target shooting, and it's tough to hit targets at that distance with just a resting pulse. Try and ski as... I think about it in terms of what I do. If I ski as hard as I can for however long they go, 3 or 5 kms, and then just even try to hold a gun steady, I don't know how they do it. It's unbelievable. And it's just the amount that they train for it. They spend a lot of time basically training exactly that, shooting accurately with a high pulse. So you can imagine the training hours involved in that. And yeah, I think... I've got a lot of respect for what they do. And yeah, it's a very... It's a fantastic sport to watch as well. Anything can happen in that sport. It's not all just down to who's the fastest, who's the fittest and strongest. It's down to another element as well. It adds another aspect to it, and that's fantastic.

BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, look again, these sports have combined different elements. They've got their own unique place in my heart, Callum. So yes, I do like biathlon as well. Just want to get to these questions too. You've got a website, which is fantastic. I'm just on it right now. It's callumwxc.com. And just sort of flicking through some stuff here, you've got a great blog here, sort of detailing a lot of your travels and everything. But my favourite part here, you've got recipes on here, Callum. You're a bit of a chef here, are you? You can go on here and cook your favourite meals. This must be, is this like a side hobby? What's with the food going on here?

CALLUM WATSON: Oh yeah, I suppose I, you know, when you spend a lot of time travelling and overseas and that, we're often just living in apartments and things like that. When you're training hard, you want to eat good food. And the only way you can do that is if you cook it. So I suppose it's all started from that, really. I do have a bit of a passion of trying to cook good, healthy meals that hopefully taste good. I thought people don't always want to hear about skiing. Skiing is, in the end, pretty repetitive, particularly when you're in a training block. You're just getting out there and crushing out caves every day. There's not much to write about. That's what I figured. I've got another passion about mucking around with cars. That's come from my dad and his love of historic cars. I've spent a lot of my youth doing that with him. That's carried on. I quite enjoy that aspect of it, too. When something goes wrong with a car, it's down to working out what's wrong with it and fixing it, as opposed to just forking out money that I often can't afford to have somebody else do it. So, yeah, why not write about it? If somebody else has a similar problem with a car, they can check out what I did, learn from my mistakes.

BEN WATERWORTH: This is definitely it. It's kind of the follow your career, follow some advice here. I'll scroll through some of your recipes. It's actually making me quite hungry. Yogurt pancakes with lemon cream, cheese and cinnamon apple. Sounds quite nice. Pesto gnocchi, that's always a favourite. I've got to get off this page, I feel. I'm going to have to start cooking these after this interview at this stage. But yeah, we'll link that on our page. As I said, callumwxc.com. You're also on Instagram, I see it looks here too. So yeah, we'll post all these out for people to definitely check into. But, Callum, I mentioned this to you off air, and we're going to get into this now. This is a little fun bit we like to close off with. Again, based on a Canadian Olympic questionnaire they put to their Rio athletes ahead of the Rio Games last year. Colin L, co-host over there in Winnipeg, he asked this to the Canadian athletes. So we started doing this to our Aussie athletes too. We thought we're going to join them in the fun. So this is called I Am Canadian, but we're going to change that to I Am Australian. And we start off with, who do you think the greatest Olympian of all time is?

CALLUM WATSON: The greatest Olympian of all time is Australian or ever? Let's...

BEN WATERWORTH: Give us one of each. Why not? I mean, look, we can open that up.

CALLUM WATSON: Alright, I'll go with Ian Thorpe for Australian. Yeah, look, you can't go past Michael Phelps. He's the best two swimmers, which is... That's just how it goes, I guess.

BEN WATERWORTH: Exactly. Good answers. What was the first Olympics you remember watching?

CALLUM WATSON: 2000.

BEN WATERWORTH: 2000, Sydney?

CALLUM WATSON: My parents took me to that one.

BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, you got to go? What events did you get to see?

CALLUM WATSON: I saw some of the athletics and saw the field hockey. Fantastic. Yeah, I mean, I was pretty young back then, but yeah, it was certainly something I still remember to this day.

BEN WATERWORTH: That's awesome. I mean, look, I sadly never got to make it up there, but I mean, I definitely remember the games and kind of just everything about them around it. You know, I got to see the torch when it came to Hobart. That's about all I can say I saw. So, but still, you know, I'll take it. Um, the... If you could be any superhero, Callum, who would you be?

CALLUM WATSON: Oh, geez, now that is a tough one. Hmm. Um, any superhero? Uh, look, I'd probably have to say someone like Iron Man. That seems like a pretty cool gig.

BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, yep, I could see that. That's a good one to be. Now, they've got a section on this question here where they say, draw a picture of yourself. Now, obviously, we can't exactly get you to draw a picture of yourself. You can surely put it on Instagram, and people can check it out. But how would you draw a picture of yourself? That's the weirdest question you're probably going to get in this interview, Callum. How would you draw a picture of yourself?

CALLUM WATSON: Oh, geez. Yeah, look, just look for the distinguishable features. You know, big eyebrows, big nose, that's probably about it, right? That'll get the gist.

BEN WATERWORTH: That works, that works. A bit of skis there. Why not? Fixing a car, cooking some food there. Speaking of food, they love their food questions here, the Canadians. What is your favourite ice cream flavour?

CALLUM WATSON: I'd probably say, yeah, macadamia. That's probably the best I've ever had. That's a good one.

BEN WATERWORTH: Good answer. I like it. If you were a baseball player, what would your walk-up music be?

CALLUM WATSON: If I was a what, sorry?

BEN WATERWORTH: A baseball player. I guess you could really kind of take this in any context. I mean, if you're on the starting line and you've got the headphones in or you've got any sort of preparation, what's kind of that pump up music you've got before you go to compete?

CALLUM WATSON: You can't really go past a bit of ACDC, I don't reckon. That gets you going.

BEN WATERWORTH: Go to the Akadaka. Very Australian. I like it.

CALLUM WATSON: Pump that in the gym. It's always good.

BEN WATERWORTH: Good answer. Good answer. What is the best nickname that you've ever been called?

CALLUM WATSON: Oh, the best nickname? Well, the most accurate or the most... Well, probably the most accurate is probably cow faff. I do generally tend to faff around a bit and waste some time doing that. I like that. So yeah, that's probably the most accurate one.

BEN WATERWORTH: We'll go with that. If there was a movie about your life, who would you like to play you? What actor would you like to play yourself?

CALLUM WATSON: Oh, Jesus. Yeah, I suppose... Oh, what's his name now? He was in Eddie the Eagle.

BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, as in Hugh Jackman? We're talking Hugh Jackman here? Yep.

CALLUM WATSON: Yeah, he did a great job on that.

BEN WATERWORTH: That's a good movie. Good movie. That's... Yeah, that works.

CALLUM WATSON: Make me look better than I am, so yeah.

BEN WATERWORTH: Well, look, everybody in Australia loves Hugh Jackman. He's kind of, I think, the only celebrity we've got, really, that just everybody loves him. Have you ever met someone who says, Oh, I don't like Hugh Jackman?

CALLUM WATSON: No, everyone's a fan.

BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, you have to be. It's an Australian thing. Like, it just comes in your nature.

CALLUM WATSON: Yeah, yeah. Be wrong not to be, yeah.

BEN WATERWORTH: You swear, you drink beer, you like Hugh Jackman. That's Australia.

CALLUM WATSON: Yeah, that's it.

BEN WATERWORTH: They've also got here, draw a picture of a Canadian animal now. Look, don't worry about that one. Whoever this athlete is, they're actually quite a good artist. They've drawn a beaver. Of course you would, you're Canadian. But anyway, if you weren't an athlete, what would you be?

CALLUM WATSON: I always wanted to race cars when I was young, so I'd like to think that I'd fallen into that. But yeah, let's say that.

BEN WATERWORTH: I have to ask then. I'm a huge Formula One fan. Are you an F1 fan? Are you more like a V8 guy? Or are you like a bit of both?

CALLUM WATSON: Oh no, F1 all the way. Yeah, I was right in the Michael Schumacher era.

BEN WATERWORTH: You are my best friend. We just became best friends. He's my complete idol god, like in human history.

CALLUM WATSON: My dad got his signature at the Melbourne Grand Prix one year, and that was a pretty amazing experience.

BEN WATERWORTH: Look, I have to tell you two quick stories here. This isn't even Olympic related, but anytime I meet somebody who likes Michael Schumacher, I've just got to tell the stories. I was 18, 2005 Australian Grand Prix, and we found out that they were doing a Vodafone, like a promo event on St Kilda Beach, my friend and I. So we went down there, we lined up with all the fans. You know, you couldn't get in, but you could kind of see them. You know, they were playing against, like, Natalie Cook and Kerry Pothurst, the Sydney Gold Medallists. So they came out, you know, Schumacher and Barrichello, signed a couple of autographs, and he sort of was coming towards me. I'm like literally shaking. I'm so nervous and excited. Didn't sign anything, kind of got onto a Harley Davidson and just went off. I'm an 18-year-old guy here, Callum, and I broke down in tears. I was that upset. But 2010, I actually was lucky enough to get media access to the paddock through sort of one of the shows I was doing at the time. And they have all the scheduling up on the wall of like, you know, this is when the drivers will appear. The only one I cared about was Michael Schumacher. So I found out that he had like a five-minute window outside the Mercedes home on a Friday evening. I lined up, you know, got in this little spot that I'm in a prime position here. He walks out, goes to the left, like to where all the other people are. I'm like, oh, shit. Like, of course that's going to happen. But I just kind of like held my ground. No, no, like this could happen. This could happen. The media person Mercedes brought him over through right in front of me. I'm standing there with like a microphone going, okay, now what? And I basically, I got 30 seconds. I got 30 seconds with him. I got to interview him. I think I asked him two questions. And that made my career. So yeah, that happened.

CALLUM WATSON: Yeah, that's... Yeah, you nailed it.

BEN WATERWORTH: I'll have to shoot you through. You'll laugh at what I asked him, but I don't care. Like, I got to speak to him. There you go. Off topic. This is the thing. Colin, if you're listening to this, you mocked my show The Qualifying Lab. People love Formula One, all right? Just because you're Canadian, you don't like Formula One. Calm down. I'll get you back to talk about Formula One at some point. What is your guilty pleasure snack?

CALLUM WATSON: Guilty pleasure snack? Oh, look. Yeah, I'd probably say just chips, any sort of chips, packet chips, that is. I just love it.

BEN WATERWORTH: Do you have a favourite, like a type of flavour or a type of chip at all that you got a preference for?

CALLUM WATSON: Look, there's these chips in Sweden, which I don't even know what flavour they are. I'm pretty sure they're like sour cream and onion or something like that, but they aren't believable. They're better than any other form of chip. And yeah, that's just my go-to, absolutely.

BEN WATERWORTH: You just bring back cases filled with them with your overweight skis. That's what you're thinking, that laptop bag. It's not really those wheels that you're telling about. You've just got bags full of chips coming back to Australia.

CALLUM WATSON: Yeah, well, I'm going to have to. My girlfriend and I are going to move back here after the Olympics. We're going to have to start importing them, I think. That's the only way.

BEN WATERWORTH: Start a business. There you go. Get Australia onto these. There's two things you've got to do now, Callum. You've got to get us some Nordic combined skis and a bunch of Swedish chips.

CALLUM WATSON: Yeah, let's do it.

BEN WATERWORTH: Done. We're setting it up. What is your favourite song lyric? I always find this one a bit of a tough one to be put on the spot, unless you definitely have a lyric from a song that you always love. But I think this needs a bit more thought process.

CALLUM WATSON: Oh, jeez, that is a tough one, isn't it? Oh, look, I don't even know. Probably, it would have to be something meaningful, I guess. But, yeah, the only thing that comes to mind really is something emotional. Let it be. Why not? Yeah, that's good. That's probably the biggest one for me. I like that.

BEN WATERWORTH: The person here that I'm reading, this athlete, they've written, if you want to be my lover, you got to get with my friends. So, clearly a Spice Girls fan. Take that in any way you want. What is the most recent TV show that you have binge watched?

CALLUM WATSON: I'd probably have to say Breaking Bad. That got addictive.

BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, definitely.

CALLUM WATSON: I don't normally get hooked on TV shows, but I had to watch that. Then I had to watch the sequel.

BEN WATERWORTH: Great show.

CALLUM WATSON: And now I've got to watch the next season that's coming out, so I'm looking forward to that.

BEN WATERWORTH: Well, you're on long flights. You've got excuses, though, like, you know. Exactly. What is your favourite place in the world to compete in? Or where is your favourite place in the world to compete in?

CALLUM WATSON: Favourite place in the world to compete? Oh, I'd probably have to say, well, it's probably changed this year. It's all down to just my best performance, really. That's what's made it for me in the Goms Valley in Switzerland. I mean, it's a beautiful area, but just because I had such a good experience there, I guess, it's made it for me.

BEN WATERWORTH: Perfect. That works. And I don't know if you're a video gamer at all, Callum, but it's got the question here. What is your favourite video game?

CALLUM WATSON: Oh, I haven't played video games since I was probably 12 playing Need For Speed on PlayStation. So yeah, that's the only answer I can give.

BEN WATERWORTH: One of my favourite video games I remember growing up on Internet 64 was I had the Nagano 98 Winter Olympics video game. I was so obsessed with that game. Oh, really? It was amazing. I don't think they've ever made an Olympic video game since then that I've loved as much. Like, it was just something about it that I love. So that's just a random Winter Olympic connection.

CALLUM WATSON: I bet they didn't have cross-country on that one.

BEN WATERWORTH: No, they didn't. But I believe they did. I don't remember if it was the Salt Lake or the Torino one. I know one of the ones afterwards, they did. It might have actually been Biathlon. I think they had Biathlon and Cross Country skiing. I definitely know there was one in the last 10 or so years that had both of them in it. So track that down.

CALLUM WATSON: I think it might have been Torino from memory. Yeah, it would have been hard to make that interesting.

BEN WATERWORTH: They try their best. I like it in the Olympic video games. They try and bring in you. You know, you've always got your typical button bashers, but then they always try like, I think in one of the summer games, they brought in like Equestrian. And you're like, really? Like, as long as it doesn't have dressage in it, I'm fine. Don't know how that works.

CALLUM WATSON: Show jumping or whatever.

BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, well, exactly. Exactly. What is your biggest fear in life?

CALLUM WATSON: Biggest fear in life? Oh, look, probably losing the ones closest to me, I guess. That's my biggest fear, yeah.

BEN WATERWORTH: That works. Final question here for you today, Callum Watson. What is one thing that you can't live without?

CALLUM WATSON: Oh, I'm going to have to say my girlfriend.

BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, I was going to say you have to, don't you? Like, if she's listening and you don't answer.

CALLUM WATSON: That. That's the safe answer. That's the only answer.

BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, true, true. Oh, isn't it sweet? There you go. Callum, I'm seriously looking forward to seeing how everything plays out between now and Pyeongchang. We're definitely going to be keeping an eye on how you go in the lead up to it, and obviously fingers and toes crossed that everything works out for you there. And it's been a lot of fun talking to you today. We look forward to the Nordic Combined Athlete Program starting here in Australia very, very soon. And we'll definitely get you back on the show post Pyeongchang to chat about your experience next year in the Games.

CALLUM WATSON: Absolutely. Sounds great. Thank you so much for having me. It was a lot of fun.

BEN WATERWORTH: Great, great chat, Callum, a fantastic guy, and we're definitely looking forward to seeing how he goes in Pyeongchang next year, and definitely considering that injury that he had, to bounce back from that, and move forward to his second games. We're very much hoping he does well, and we will be keeping a close eye on him during those games next year. We have more of these athlete interviews coming your way. You would have obviously heard the ones we've had recently, and of course Colin bringing us the Canadian angle as well. We always do like to put it out there if you want us to track down anybody in particular that you maybe want to hear from. There's a particular athlete you want to hear from or that you've never heard from in a while, then please shoot us a message on our Facebook page Off The Podium Podcast, and we'll see what we can do. If you're howling a dial, we definitely want to hear from you in terms of Nordic Combine. This is going to be a thing, people. This is definitely going to be a thing. Australia, Nordic Combine, we're going to start off this program, and we're going to make us the world leaders in the great sport of Nordic Combined. Subscribe to us on iTunes. Easiest way to get these episodes direct to your device. Of course, we are also available on Stitcher. And while you're there subscribing to us, you can rate us, you can leave us feedback. We always do appreciate hearing what you're thinking of the show. Thanks once again to Callum. We'll be back very soon for another episode here on Off The Podium. Thank you for your time, and we'll speak to you very soon.