Harry Laidlaw Interview
With only days until the Beijing Olympics, we continue our chats with some great winter athletes as we chat with Australian Alpine Skier Harry Laidlaw about his incredible sport and his incredible career & Olympic achievements! We find out from Harry just how he got into the sport and what other sports we could've seen him make a name for himself in had things taken a different route. We also find out just how difficult it is for an Australian to make it in the sport of Alpine Skiing and just how he is able to relate to his fellow competitors from other non-skiing nations. Added to this we try and work out what an Australian equivalent of the cow bell could be during competitions down under and just what other sports Harry could try his hand in to try and compete with a certain cross-sport skier from the Czech Republic. It's an incredible chat that we know you won't want to miss, so get to listening!
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Please note this is an automated transcript that may contain errors.
BEN WATERWORTH: It is Off The Podium, an Olympics podcast coming to you today for another athlete interview as we get so close to the Beijing Olympics. You can sniff them, you can smell the snow, you can get excited about the bird's nest about to have another opening ceremony. Everything is getting an Olympian fan's blood pumping right now, and you're going to get even more pumped up today as we interview 2018 Olympian, Harry Laidlaw, Australian alpine skier, on the cusp of a potential second appearance at the Beijing Olympics. And we learn a lot about his career, how he got into the sport, his experiences going up the ranks through the different circuits, becoming an Olympian from Australia in the sport of alpine skiing, a sport which we've got more of a history on, of course, than many people realise when it comes to the Olympics, a sport we have won a medal at the Olympics, just reminding people, the great Zali Steggall, of course, winning in Nagano. And challenges as well that he's had to overcome in order to make it to the Olympics. It's a fascinating chat here with Harry. You're going to learn a lot, as you always do in these interviews. So sit back, relax, and listen to our chat with Australian Olympic alpine skier Harry Laidlaw.
BEN WATERWORTH: I'm thrilled today to be able to return to the great sport of alpine skiing to learn a little bit more about an Australian Olympian, competed at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, and is hoping to return to the Olympics very soon for the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games. It's a pleasure to welcome to Off The Podium, Harry Laidlaw. Harry, first of all, pleasure to have you here on the show. Thank you for joining me on Off The Podium today.
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah, no stress. Thanks for having me.
BEN WATERWORTH: It's exciting. I love alpine skiing, and it's a sport that we haven't talked about enough on this show. We had Zali Stegel on many years ago, spoke to Greta Small recently, and to kind of now tick this off. Yeah, our first ever male alpine skier then, that kind of ticks that off the list there. But it's a great sport, Harry. I feel like we need to catch up here. What's going on? Why haven't we been doing this? Blame me for something here, Harry. I feel guilty.
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah, get more of us on.
BEN WATERWORTH: More of you. It needs to happen more on that sort of stuff. But I always like to kind of start off any of these interviews and obviously finding out how you get involved in the sport. So obvious question. How did you get involved in alpine skiing, Harry?
HARRY LAIDLAW: So my mum was a ski instructor, my dad was also a pretty keen skier, and they actually, when they were younger, they both met each other in Austria while they were both sort of travelling around, sort of ski bumming around. And then you have two older brothers. One was a skier and the middle was a snowboarder. And then, yeah, just when we were younger, we sort of grew up with it because mum and dad were pretty keen on it. We, you know, started when I was two. And then, you know, I had two older brothers, so I was sort of trying to keep up with them. And then, yeah, sort of all kicked off from there.
BEN WATERWORTH: Rest is history, basically. So was it always alpine skiing? I mean, were there kind of other disciplines? Did you look at things like freestyle skiing or sort of Nordic skiing? Anything along those lines?
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah, for sure. Because my oldest brother, he ski raced. And my middle brother was a slopestyle snowboarder. So yeah, I sort of did both growing up, like probably more so. Yeah, I was more like a pretty much split. Like I wanted to be like a slopestyle skier, but I also did ski racing. And then I did that probably up till I was 14. And then my brother started competing overseas and sort of taking it pretty seriously. And then I sort of followed his footsteps. And plus, like I was getting every time I got hurt, it was always because when I was skiing in the park or slopestyle, so I was maybe a smarter decision.
BEN WATERWORTH: Got to switch focus on that way. Were you doing other outside of sort of skiing sports? Were you involved in any other sports growing up? Like typical kid playing 101 different sports?
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah, I mean, we're a pretty sporty family. We did everything. Yeah, I played footy, like AFL a lot. And usually I would split the season, like do half the season back home. And then I would go up to the mountains and miss the next half. And then maybe if my home team made finals or something, I would nick down for them. But then, yeah, it was the same thing. Like I stopped pretty young because I was always, you know, almost too scared to get hurt, you know. So skiing was always the main focus.
BEN WATERWORTH: So that was sort of... Was that more of a case of you enjoyed it more? Did you kind of look at something like an Olympics would be better to go to than maybe, you know, making it to the AFL, kind of like sort of that balance?
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah, I don't know. I think, yeah, I think as well, like my brother was a big influence because he was doing it and I sort of wanted to do what he was doing, you know. I'm sure if he went the other way, I would have probably done the same thing. Yeah, I think like when you're so young, you're so influential by your family. And yeah, also I enjoyed it probably just as much on both sides. But yeah, I guess that's just the way I went.
BEN WATERWORTH: Got to ask, I always like to ask this question whenever we mention AFL at all. I mean, who's your team, Harry? Like I've got to get this.
HARRY LAIDLAW: I'm a Bombers fan.
BEN WATERWORTH: Ouch.
HARRY LAIDLAW: All right.
BEN WATERWORTH: You can see over my shoulder who I potentially support, but you know, we're meant to hate each other, right? You could have said Collingwood could have been worse. So, you know, we kind of got on that page. Is that one of those sort of family ones where like everybody else in the family goes to them, or did you make that decision growing up?
HARRY LAIDLAW: No, not at all. Like it's pretty funny. Like my dad goes to Melbourne, my brother goes to Richmond, my other brother goes to West Coast.
BEN WATERWORTH: Geez, that's got to hurt with the recent success of all of them. Like, geez, it will brag into you a little bit.
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah, it's brutal. But no, like my mum goes for bombers. But yeah, like I think Matthew Lloyd came to my kinder one day. I was like, all right, I'm a bomber fan now.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, that'll do it. That'll do it. You know, he's a good bomber. I can tolerate Matthew. I think everybody likes Lloyd. So, you know, kind of he's one that you kind of like that. Did you sort of watch sort of growing up sort of with the skiing, would a Winter Olympics come around and sort of, you know, get glued to the screen? And was that something that you would watch thinking that this is something that I realistically could achieve maybe one day?
HARRY LAIDLAW: Honestly, not really. Like I never, I didn't watch so much ski racing. Like, I more watched, like, slope style skiing, and I would watch X Games and stuff like that. And I was sort of like, yeah, I want to be at the X Games. Yeah, I guess, like, as I got older, like ski racing was more the focus. And, you know, like, my brother who was trying to go to the games, I was like, all right, this is, yeah, this is definitely something I want to do, and I want to go on, yeah.
BEN WATERWORTH: I always find it interesting, sort of, with Alpine, that you can kind of relate it a little bit, maybe, to, say, a sport like swimming, where, you know, it's making a decision to maybe focus on, say, the slalom more so than the downhill, or, you know, the Super G more so than kind of that side of things. I mean, do you, did you have a preference, sort of, growing up? Was it something that you changed along the way? I mean, kind of, how did you work through the different, I guess, disciplines that you have with ski racing and alpine?
HARRY LAIDLAW: Um, yeah, I mean, I was always, like, probably a better giant slalom skier. Um, and, yeah, because of, like, the access we have to, um, skiing in Australia, like, Super G and downhill is pretty difficult. Um, like, I mean, you see someone like Greta, who is doing downhill on Super G, and it's pretty impressive because, like, it's just the resources we get compared to, like, you know, an Austrian kid growing up, or a Swiss kid is so crazily different, you know? Um, like, there's just, you can't really train it, or, you know, train it at all in Australia. So it's something you sort of start doing later in your career. Um, yeah, for me, it was like, I was always probably, Giant Slalom was probably my best discipline. And then, um, as I got older, I sort of, yeah, sort of thought, like, might as well just sort of focus all my energy into one discipline. And, um, yeah, I mean, we ski other disciplines here and there, but yeah, the main focus is Giant Slalom.
BEN WATERWORTH: Which is that a common thing amongst ski racers that you can just really focus on one? Because it does seem to be that sort of one, you know, maybe outside of, say, short track, but potentially an event where, you know, winter Olympics, you can do cross disciplines, and a lot of people seem to do that. But I mean, is that a thing that maybe a country, as you're saying, from Australia, where maybe it is more of a, let's just focus on one rather than an Austrian who was maybe doing sort of all the events, so to speak?
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah, I mean, I think it's, yeah, it's hard to, I mean, I think if you're like a good skier at a young age, like you can, you know, you can cross over to Super G or downhill quite easily. If you're like, if you have strong fundamentals of skiing, it's quite an easy switch over. And you can sort of, you know, figure out the line and everything. But yeah, it's hard to say. I think, yeah, I think like when you don't have the resources, it's better to just focus on sort of what you can with what you have.
BEN WATERWORTH: And is it more of a difficult aspect then if you want to get into say downhill, or the Super G, going back to that resources thing that it's not something you can really do in Australia, that when you all of a sudden give that a crack for the first time, that there's much more of a step from a GS up to a downhill, rather than maybe the other way around, going from a downhill to a giant slalom?
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah, for sure. I mean, there's so much to learn, like skiing downhill. Like the line is super important. Also, like, you know, the equipment is quite important. Like you have to have fast skis and, you know, like the guys that are skiing on the World Cup, like they have a whole team behind them, like making their skis fast and making sure they have the best equipment. So I think, yeah, making that step is not easy, but it's for sure, for sure possible.
BEN WATERWORTH: It must be a pretty crazy feeling, though, that first time you get to go on a downhill and get to some of those speeds and kind of go down. I mean, do you remember sort of that first time you ever got to do a downhill and what that was like?
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah, for sure. I mean, it's pretty loose. I mean, when you're not used to going those speeds, but you slowly get used to it. Like every run you're doing, you sort of get used to the timing and everything coming at you a bit faster. But yeah, definitely the first days, I would skate speed. It's pretty scary.
BEN WATERWORTH: What are the best ones to do in terms of just pure speed, adrenaline? Like, is there a certain course that any downhill skier, even no matter how attuned they are to skiing around the world, still gives a bit of fear into the bones?
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah, I mean, Kitspiel is like the most famous downhill of the year. It's like the gnarliest track. I mean, if you see it on TV, it's so loose, and it's so different than being on the track. If you slid down that thing, it's so much crazier than it looks on TV, and even on TV, it looks crazy. But yeah, there's a lot of hype around that race, and there's always a crazy number of spectators.
BEN WATERWORTH: Have you done it?
HARRY LAIDLAW: No, I haven't, but maybe one day.
BEN WATERWORTH: Maybe one day. There you go. Ticket off the bucket list. Do you look at events like that and have a bucket list as you're progressing through the ranks? You mentioned the X Games and the Olympics and then doing certain World Cup events. Is that something that you go through the motions as you progress up the ladder?
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah, I guess so. I guess you usually start at the Europa Cup level and then you want to start on the World Cup and follow the World Cup circuit. That's the ultimate goal is being on that World Cup circuit and being a competitor, not just doing it to do it. But being that to compete.
BEN WATERWORTH: In terms of when you decide, this is what I want to do, I want to pursue this as my sport, my career, at what point then are you switching focus to, okay, I've got to chase the snow, Northern Hemisphere winters, and obviously trying to come back to Australia where you can, no doubt, go to Mount Hotham, places like that, and at what point when you're progressing through this, is this all of a sudden realisation that I can go on what you're saying, kind of going through these and kind of making this what I want to keep pushing towards and achieving?
HARRY LAIDLAW: Like when do you realise that? Yeah, yeah. You have to do that?
BEN WATERWORTH: Kind of like at what point sort of when you're going through those and really chasing it, is that kind of what you're realising?
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah, I guess, well, like you see the guys that are living in Europe, and they have, you know, they're over here. Yeah, they live here, so they can do that, you know? But you sort of, yeah, I mean, pretty early on, you have to start doing that pretty early on, chasing winters and... I guess, yeah, chasing winters and sort of like being on snow as much as those guys, so you can sort of be on a similar playing field.
BEN WATERWORTH: And I guess growing up in that environment, for most Australians, we don't see snow. It's sort of not a common thing. But as you was kind of saying, it's something that you were a little bit used to. So does that make it not as hard then when basically you're spending pretty much the majority of your year constantly surrounded by snow and not doing the standard Australian sand and surf all the time?
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah, I mean, people like sort of think that you get used to it, but no, for sure I miss home. And I don't see my family and friends for eight months of the year. So it's not so much the weather or the place. It's more like the people that you're away from for so long. I think that's like why also we don't have so many like winter athletes, because it's, you know, it's pretty difficult. You know, you got to commit to a program away from home for a long period of time. And yeah.
BEN WATERWORTH: How is that focus when you're going through those ranks for Alpine from the Australian perspective? Because obviously we've seen great success in snowboarding and freestyle skiing kind of is obviously where ultimately our medals have come from. We've seen a bit in short track, and of course, Zali's bronze back in Nagano, our only Alpine success. But is that support kind of there still for sort of the Alpine skis, or is it kind of not as much as it is for the freestylers and the snowboarders?
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah, not really. I mean, so like Alpine skiing is, you know, it's just a bigger sport than the others. I think like even if you add all the freestyle disciplines up, like, you know, slopestyle, ski cross, you know, moguls, like if you add the amount of people that are competing in that, and then you times it by two, you still don't have the number of competitors that are competing in Alpine skiing. You know, it's just, it's a different game. And yeah, I think that, you know, the support isn't there because, yeah, we haven't had that much success. So, you know, they say, they say like Mogulists getting strong results every year and Aerialists and the snowboarders. So it's, it's an easier thing to back, you know. But nah, I mean, yeah, I mean, Alpine skiing hasn't been supported for a long, long time, like since probably John O'Brough and Craig Branch.
BEN WATERWORTH: It's fascinating to think that though, because, you know, it's the progression of winter sport in Australia and kind of what we focus now going into an Olympics and kind of this expectation that we're going to walk away with medals. I mean, you were, I think, two when Zali won her bronze back in Nagano, but that was still such an achievement for Australia to walk away with a medal, let alone kind of in Alpine skiing. And I guarantee it's one of these ones that if you had a trivia of name the winter sports that Australians have won medals in, I guarantee you'd probably get them all. And people would struggle to even realise that Australia have medalled in Alpine skiing, which I mean, as you were saying, that the amount of people, I mean, this is the blue ribbon event of the Olympics. This is what everybody, this is like the hundred metre sprint of the summer games. It's like the downhill for the winter. Like this is pretty much the main event, which is strange to think that Australia just sort of hasn't found that way after what happened with Zali and kind of we've switched focus to different models of skiing.
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah, 100%. I mean, as well, like, you know, like winter sports in general doesn't have so much, like so much funding to support each support, you know, so they got to, I think they have to like narrow it down to what is going to get medals at the Olympics. And yeah, I think like, you look at Zali and it's, you know, it's for sure possible to create some sort of pathway program. I mean, like the moguls guys have like a pretty legit pathway program and development team and just like an elite training centre on home soil. Same with like snowboard and freeski guys, like that looks like a good development program and like a good training facility in Australia. So it's I think it's like, yeah, it's for sure possible. But I think you have to have some belief to support those programs.
BEN WATERWORTH: To put it into context, interesting thing here, you're mentioning about the amount of competitors you've got in Alpine. The 100 metres in Tokyo, there were 83 men in the men's 100 metre sprint that competed in that. There are 110 competitors in the giant slalom at Pyeongchang. So like, I mean, that's nearly 30 odd extra competitors in an event, which again, that's one of those random little trivia facts you'd probably think that if you gave to the average person on the street, what sports got more competitors in it, the giant slalom at the winter or the 100 metres in the summer, you're going to go with 100, isn't it? So it's very well attended by sort of athletes and ultimately too, Australians have got looking here people from Eritrea, you know, Lebanon, people that you're not even thinking you're probably out in the skiing nations, right? It's crazy. Yeah, it's fascinating. And how is that then when you are competing in a sport like this, where I guess Australia is seen as, you know, not a powerhouse in alpine skiing by any stretch of the imaginations, but you do kind of have that weird diversity of nations in some way, that you do have someone from Eritrea, you know, South Africa, places like that, where you're not thinking of skiing. Like, do you kind of bond with some of these athletes a little bit more? Like, hey, you're also from a country where, you know, maybe we're not kind of seen as a snow country. Like, let's hang out a little bit, grab a beer.
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah, I mean, snow, the snow, like, community is pretty small on alpine skiing. You sort of know everyone. So, yeah, I mean, everyone gets along pretty well. And yeah, it is cool to see, like, some smaller nations doing well, like, like on the women's side, Alice Robinson, who's a New Zealand skier. I mean, she's like, yeah, she's a legit competitor on the World Cup. And, you know, it's cool to see someone from a bit of like an outcast. So, yeah, no, it's super cool to see that.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, I mean, what the first ever winter medal from a southern hemisphere nation was New Zealand. So they got that, of course, back in in Albuville. So they beat us slightly there, Harry. I think we've caught up. It took them another what, 26 years before they won some more bloody medals. So like, you know, we kind of got a nice lead on that. I always love finding out from guests on the show have been to the Youth Olympics kind of about that experience. You went there in 2012. What was that whole experience like going to a Youth Olympic Games? And does that sort of give you a bit of a preparation for what would follow six years later when you do go to Pyeongchang?
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah, I think so. I think it's like a good stepping stone towards like the next, like the big games, sort of see what it's all about. And yeah, it's cool. I mean, my experience there was like, because I was skiing pretty much every discipline and ski cross, so I was super busy training and racing every day, but yeah, it was cool. I mean, you sort of like get a feel of what the Olympics is about and you know, you meet heaps of people and yeah, it's just like super vibe and good couple of weeks.
BEN WATERWORTH: The first ever Winter Youth Olympics as well, of course, in 2012. So I guess being part of our history, you can always sort of say that you were part of that very first Australian Youth Winter Olympic team.
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah, for sure.
BEN WATERWORTH: Kind of goes that way. Sort of after that experience, was the goal then to try out for Sochi? And if so, sort of how close did you get to making the 2014 Olympics?
HARRY LAIDLAW: Sochi, I feel like I was still pretty young, like I was only 18. And I was still in school, and I was sort of like, yeah, I thought about it, but I was thinking, yeah, maybe not these ones. I'll sort of like see what happens in the season. But yeah, I was more focused on finishing school and sort of my own skiing at the time.
BEN WATERWORTH: Kind of pushing through that way. And how difficult is it to explain to teachers about that you're going off skiing, particularly in Australia? Not a common sport that I'm sure a lot of students are turning around and saying, I mean, I know I think you went and studied in the States for a little bit, but I can imagine that when you're in Australia studying, that that's an interesting one to go to a teacher. I might be away for a couple of months just going off skiing for a while.
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah, I mean, I'm at uni at the moment, and that's pretty difficult. Yeah, explaining what I'm doing. And like, I mean, I remember last year, I came to Europe in August when like COVID was popping off, and I was like sort of talking to my lecturers saying, yeah, I'm actually in Switzerland at the moment. And yeah, they were like, they were pretty baffled.
BEN WATERWORTH: Can you play the Olympian card though? Can you just be like, well, I am an Olympian, so, you know.
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah, a little bit. Yeah.
BEN WATERWORTH: That's got to change their minds a little bit. Like, I'm sure that they're like, oh, yeah, you're off in Switzerland skiing. I'm sure you're like, well, no, no, no, like, Google me. Here I am on the AOC website. I'm an Olympian.
HARRY LAIDLAW: Right.
BEN WATERWORTH: Come on. Like, this is me.
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah. Definitely does help a little bit.
BEN WATERWORTH: Play with that card. But you sort of, you mentioned before about, it wasn't necessarily a goal for the Olympics, but at what point did it kind of click to you that an Olympics is a possibility?
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah, I guess, like, probably when was it like, yeah, just before the games, like, I don't know, maybe 2016, I started to like, I started to skate pretty well. And then the year, like the qualifying year, like it's sort of a 2017, 2018 season. Yeah, I started to skate super fast, and I like, had no, not much expectations. But you know, I was, I had the quali, the qualification was pretty tough. And the results that I needed, I'd never had before. But I felt like going into that season, it was possible. And I sort of, yeah, I was, I just sort of said to myself like, let's have fun, no expectations, and let's see what happens. And yeah, it turned out to be a really good season. And yeah, I ended up getting there in the end.
BEN WATERWORTH: Ended up happening, which do you remember that moment when you officially knew that you had that ticket punched and you were in the Olympics?
HARRY LAIDLAW: Well, it was a bit of a rollercoaster because so I initially, like, I had the best results from that 2017-2018 season. And yeah, like the other guy Dom that I competed against, like we raced a lot against each other that season. And I was pretty fast comparatively to him, and he ended up getting kicked before me because he had a good result from the season previous. So initially, we only had one spot to go. And then, yeah, I thought I didn't make it, but then we ended up getting a second spot. Yeah.
BEN WATERWORTH: Kind of get the second nod, which I mean, it must be a pretty special feeling. And I always like to kind of find out, do you consider yourself an Olympian that moment you know you're going, when you get the uniform, when you're there in Korea, like kind of at what point do you think to yourself, okay, I'm an Olympian now. You can never take this away from me.
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah, I guess like when I sort of like kicked in to the Stargate, and yeah, I was there because like, I was always like, because we had about a week or week and a half before we knew that we were going, and I was sort of like, yeah, you know, I mean, it plays on your mind a bit, like, don't get hurt, don't get injured before you head off and yeah.
BEN WATERWORTH: Which is fascinating. I always love hearing this from our winter athletes, because it's just it's that such fine line that you're selected or can be selected that close, you know, we've had summer athletes who've known a year before the games are on that they're going to the Olympics. You're like weeks out, which is just crazy, because you've got to get from that moment of I'm going to it's a competition, you've still got to go there to compete, you can't just let it take over. Right. So it's just it must be mentally a very interesting experience.
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah, for sure. I think as well, like, because I was injured last year, and I didn't really have much of a season, so I couldn't really showcase what, you know, I thought I was capable of. So yeah, it's it's sort of like an intense couple months, or like two or three months when the qualification period starts and a bit of you're sort of on a time clock. And yeah, I mean, I think the best way to go about it is just sort of like enjoying the time over here and realise how lucky you are to be in Europe, especially at the moment. And just yeah, sort of saying what happens, I guess.
BEN WATERWORTH: Do you take any moments during 2018 to soak up the little things about being in an Olympics, you know, village life, pin trading, jumping into these, you know, great athletes around the world, ceremonies like, are you doing any of that or are you so focused on competition that you didn't sort of take any of that in?
HARRY LAIDLAW: No, I was pretty like, I mean, I was, I was, I, it was hard because I had a crash before I flew out for the games. And yeah, I had like, sort of a bone bruise on my spine. So I didn't, I think I was there for two and a half weeks and I only skated a few days, which was pretty tough, but yeah, like it was more after my event. Yeah, we got to see South Korea a little bit and made some of the other athletes and yeah, it was pretty fun. Like I think I had like four days after my event, right? And yeah, just had heaps of fun and met heaps of people and yeah, it was good.
BEN WATERWORTH: Which obviously during that period, you could leave the village, you could go see other events. You know, it's kind of not like where we're living right now. So do you take your time? Like maybe go watch some hockey or kind of, you know, some curling or like something like that. As an Australian, we don't really get to see something like that.
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah, for sure. I mean, after my event, I sort of went and watched as many events as I could. And yeah, I think we went and saw the cross country, the track skating, ice hockey. Yeah, like sort of just, there was me and a few other, I think a few of the other mogul guys, they were pretty keen to like, yeah, see everything. And yeah, we're pretty much on the same wavelength. We just wanted to have fun after the events and meet heaps of people and sort of see as much as we could.
BEN WATERWORTH: You mentioned the injury now. I believe you weren't even able to compete in the Super G basically because of the injury, kind of what sort of happened and like sort of, you mentioned sort of what it was and kind of that sort of stuff. But I mean, how much were you pushing yourself or like listening to the doctors, but kind of wanting to like, well, I just like, I'm at the Olympics. I want to be able to compete like kind of like, how was all that process before you were able to even get to your competition?
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah, I mean, it was super tough. Like we, yeah, it was just physio and rehab every single day, especially like before Super G. And then a couple of days before Super G, I tried to ski and it was too bad. And then I sort of thought like, yeah, it doesn't matter how bad it is, I'm going to race. But then, yeah, it ended up being the doctor's decision. I mean, why even start if you can't even ski the way you want to, you know? And it was sort of a group decision to skip the Super G and get as good as possible for my event.
BEN WATERWORTH: Which, how hard is that when a doctor says, like, this is a doctor's decision? Like, can you not somehow just be like, well, of course, I want to ski how I do, but this could be my only Olympics. Like, I need to do this.
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah, I sort of, like, I mean, I sort of agreed. I was, I mean, I was there to do the GS. The Super G was sort of just, yeah, it was sort of a bonus. I hadn't trained much Super G that year or raced it, so I was sort of, yeah, I sort of agreed with them. Like, I was there to do the GS and, you know, I want to do as well as possible. So, yeah, I mean, it's tough in the situation, but you sort of accept it. And yeah, looking back, it was for sure the best decision.
BEN WATERWORTH: So when it comes to the GS, what happened there?
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah, I mean, I was feeling pretty good, and my back actually felt like way better than it had been. And then, yeah, I was skiing not too bad, and yeah, I was feeling pretty good. And then there was the last, like, three gates. There was a bit of a terrain change and a bit of a direction change of the course. And, yeah, I just didn't react fast enough. And then, yeah, pretty much, yeah, crashed in the finish. Yeah, a few of the top guys did that, so I wasn't... I mean, I wasn't too bummed. It was sort of like a bit of a tricky section, but, yeah, I mean, in the end, I tried my best.
BEN WATERWORTH: Do you still get... Obviously, you want to finish, you want to do your best, but I mean, the fact that you were able to line up after the disappointment of not being able to go into the Super G, does that... Do you take away now, like, maybe after a few years of reflection, to think, well, at least I got there, I was able to start, and ultimately didn't turn out how I wanted to, but I still was able to get to that point where I maybe didn't think I was going to be able to get to that point?
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah, for sure. I mean, I guess looking back now, I was pretty proud of what I did and I did everything in my power to be there. So yeah, I guess looking back, it was pretty cool that I was there to be, to start. Yeah.
BEN WATERWORTH: Is it something that we've heard a lot from, say, some of our Summer Olympians, medallists or not, that they obviously come back and go to schools and talk their experiences and things like that. How does that work for somebody from the Winter Games? I mean, do you end up going to schools closer to, say, Mount Hotham, Mount Buller, a place like this, where maybe you can talk to these kids a little bit more with the accessibility to skiing, or are you still going around to places to try and, I guess, recruit some kids to get into Alpine so we can push this sport a little bit further than it should, well, that's at right now, really.
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah. Yeah, not really. I mean, it was sort of, it was sort of hard because I, so after the games, I went back over to Europe because I, my season wasn't done yet. I still, I still had competitions to do. And yeah, most of the other guys, they all went back home, and they, there was sort of a list of like school appearances and whatnot. But no, I never, never really had the opportunity or time to do that. But yeah, I mean, in the future, I definitely, definitely would be keen to. Because I think like, I mean, for me growing up, I always had like older athletes to look up to and to get inspired by. And yeah, I think it's super important.
BEN WATERWORTH: Which, is it a sport where you can poach people? Like, can you poach people from freestyle skiing? Like, they seem to steal all the gymnasts when it comes to aerials. That's why we've got no good gymnasts. Well, I said we've got good gymnasts, but as in we've got no gymnasts who are winning medals, right? Because they just steal them to do fucking aerial skiing. Like, can you steal some of these freestyle skiers and bring them into Alpine? Like, hey, come over to the real skiing. Come on.
HARRY LAIDLAW: No, I mean, most, most races like would go the other way, like racing to free ski, because I think you have better fundamentals of like learning to actually ski, you know. I think Alpine is a tricky one to like really recruit others from other sports. But yeah, you never know until you try, I guess.
BEN WATERWORTH: You never know. Well, the one, actually, too, we've had a lot of ski jumpers on recently, Harry, and a couple of them have mentioned how they sort of used to do Alpine and then kind of they went into a bit of ski jumping because of, you know, the jumps and the downhill and things like that. So on the flip side there, if you ever think of changing, Australia's never ever had an Olympic ski jumper. So you could think about that. You know, go to Beijing, kick ass there on the Alpine, but come along, like create history as Australia's first ever ski jumper. So there's an idea for you to think about moving forward.
HARRY LAIDLAW: I don't know. I sort of look at those ski jumpers and they're like tiny guys, like they're pretty, I mean, they're tiny. I think I may be too heavy for ski jumping, but...
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, you never know. So at the time of recording this, sort of mentioning a little bit off air that the World Cup season started, the plan is to try and get to Beijing to your second Olympics. What's the process now? What do you need to do? And how are you feeling as you push towards the second Olympics?
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah, so I'm in Europe at the moment, and the process is pretty much just whoever is the best Australian guy who's competing the best, you know, on the Europa Cup and the World Cup. And yeah, I feel pretty good about it. I had a pretty good preseason last year, like my summer ski season was really good, and I was feeling really good going into the season, and then unfortunately I got hurt, but a lot of my teammates that year had quite good season, so at least it was somewhat of a good comparison, you know. But no, I feel good about this year. Yeah, like as I said, I'm not really expecting hapes. I've worked super hard, and skiing feels good at the moment, so I'm just sort of trying to have fun and sort of see what happens, but not put too much pressure on myself.
BEN WATERWORTH: Is it a sport in which, say, it doesn't go to plan and Beijing doesn't happen, that, you know, as you keep going towards Milan, you'll sort of be approaching 30, but is that sort of still a peak age? Like, is that sort of something that you can still go, okay, well, Beijing maybe happened, but I've got four more years now to kind of get myself back into that form that got me to Pyeongchang, basically.
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah, for sure. I mean, most of the top guys are around 28, 28 years old, 28, 29, so, I mean, there's for sure some young guys in there that are like on the podium on the World Cup. But yeah, like, mostly the older guys that are sort of make up the, you know, top 15 or so.
BEN WATERWORTH: We're pushing it that way. We're going to get to some get to know you style fun questions, kind of close this out in just a moment, Harry. Two quick fire things that I just want to kind of ask you here, first of all, we're big fans on this show of a certain Esther Ladeca. Now, we talked to Greta a lot about Esther and just sort of achievements in, you know, winning gold in both snowboarding and skiing. I mean, is there an enigma around someone like Esther, like kind of, you know, when you see, I don't know sort of how closely the men's and the women's sort of circuits relate there, but I mean, you know, that she can do that. And then back to my thing about ski jumping that, again, side hobby, you could be winning men's ski jumping and alpine and one-upping Esther here. Like, come on, you know, think about that.
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah, I mean, what she did was, yeah, nuts. I don't reckon there'll be anyone doing that for a long, long time, unless she does it again in the next games. But yeah, I don't know. Actually, there was one skier, he was doing ski cross, and he was a pretty legit ski cross skier. And also in the summer, he was doing BMX or something, and he went to the Olympics with BMX, maybe. I mean, yeah, you sort of need to find two sports that correlate somewhat. But yeah, some of those top athletes are just crazy athletes, so they can quick learners and good correlation of the two.
BEN WATERWORTH: It's always fascinating when you see multiple sports and to be able to do that. Like you're saying, there are a few summer and winter alternate between it, but it's crazy to think about the dedication that you've got to put. I mean, you're putting enough dedication into one sport to be able to go, like, oh, I'm going to do this and cycle it, alternate between those winter and summer cycles. It's fascinating. Is there a summer sport that you would look at thinking like, maybe, oh yeah, give this a crack? Paris 2024, you never know.
HARRY LAIDLAW: Probably not, hey. I mean, I would love to, yeah, have a summer sport, but yeah, not really.
BEN WATERWORTH: Pull back on the footy boots. Who knows, they might put it as an Olympic sport by the time Brisbane rolls, 11 years to press the IOC for that. Maybe, who knows? The other one I love learning about cowbells. How sick of cowbells do you bloody well get? Because, Jesus Christ, they either must be incredibly annoying, or they must help you out down those hills.
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah, they're pretty intense. Those Austrian, New European fans. Yeah, either cowbells or those horns, they're like, yeah.
BEN WATERWORTH: Is there an Australian equivalent? Can we do something when it comes to Australia? Like, can we get the Digitary Do out or something like that? That'd be kind of cool to kind of go that, because I don't know, like, what our equivalent would be, because it's just fascinating why this is a thing. Like, what is it about?
HARRY LAIDLAW: I know, it's funny, hey. I guess they've just been doing it so long that they don't know anything else.
BEN WATERWORTH: Used to it. It's like the World Cup winners in South Africa, those Vuvuzelas. It's kind of like, geez, remember those? Like, God, you couldn't get them out of your head. And then people would bring, like, they were like A-League for about a couple of years after that. I feel like it was just this trend, like, hey, Vuvuzelas, like, things that deserve to stay in the past, right? We never bring back the Vuvuzela. But no, didgeridoos at Australian events. We'll try and we'll make it happen. Now, as I said, we like to close out with a series of sort of get to know you style questions. Now, these are based on a questionnaire that Team Canada gave their athletes ahead of both Pyeongchang and Rio. There's a bit of a drawing element. Again, it's not compulsory if you feel the need to draw. There's a you can draw a picture of yourself. There's a draw a place from a hometown. Little images here. I'm telling you now, the guests I've chosen today, Erin Malzinski, she has drawn some pretty good pictures here. Maybe the best I've seen. Wow, she's drawn an elephant, which legit looks like an elephant. It doesn't look like a stick figure or something. So good job there, Erin. All right, we'll start off with the first question. Your favourite ever Olympic moment is?
HARRY LAIDLAW: Favourite ever Olympic moment? Probably, I mean, this summer watching the Tokyo Games, like watching the skateboarding and watching that young Australian boy win one of the medals was pretty sick to watch. Yeah, I mean, as the Lodeca in Pyeongchang, I was just nuts. And like, just because she was such a big underdog in the Super G, and it was just like, yeah, she was just, you know, no one was thinking she was going to win. And I love those stories.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, and the best quote ever.
HARRY LAIDLAW: And then she goes and wins the snowboarding is just like crazy, crazy.
BEN WATERWORTH: I still say Lindsey Vonn's quote that I just got beaten by a frickin snowboarder is probably one of the best quotes ever heard, ever uttered. So I want that on a T-shirt. If you could have any superpower, what would it be?
HARRY LAIDLAW: Superpower, probably to fly.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah.
HARRY LAIDLAW: And then I could fly home for a little bit and then back here.
BEN WATERWORTH: Works, like it, good one. Your favourite sports movie is?
HARRY LAIDLAW: Favourite sports movie? Mighty Ducks.
BEN WATERWORTH: Hey, there we go. Best answer. Now, are you a fan of all three or do you just kind of stick to the OG and ignore the sequels?
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah, OG.
BEN WATERWORTH: OG, yeah, go that way. Have you seen the TV show on Disney Plus at all?
HARRY LAIDLAW: No, I haven't. Didn't know that existed.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, that's sort of in the last 12 or so months. It's called Game Changers. It's okay. Emilia-Huesva is in it. So, you know, Gordon Bombay returns. So it's got its moments. Now, often these alternate these questions between different athletes. And there's one here that's not on this question, but I want to ask you this because I've got an answer for this one, which I don't know if you maybe you get all the time. But if you if there was to be a movie based on your life, who would play you? I'm going to say this because like this has been bugging me the whole, not bugging me, but I'm like, Jesus Christ, Zac Efron, tell me you get Zac Efron. Like it's seriously this whole time. I'm like, this is Zac Efron. Like this is a thing.
HARRY LAIDLAW: I've been out a few nights before and someone has said it and I'm like, no, no.
BEN WATERWORTH: Play it to your advantage, Harry. That's not a bad one to do. Like, come on, you should be like, yes, I am Zac Efron.
HARRY LAIDLAW: I think I just have some like high school musical trauma from Zac Efron.
BEN WATERWORTH: Not quite going that way with it too. The only person I ever got compared to was Carl Sanderlands when I was younger. And that's not somebody you want to pretend to be. So, you know, I would much rather Zac Efron if you can take it.
HARRY LAIDLAW: So, yeah, I'll take it.
BEN WATERWORTH: Go for that way. Your funniest childhood memory is?
HARRY LAIDLAW: Oh, funniest childhood memory. I mean, I grew up at Hotham, like doing ski seasons up there. And yeah, I remember me and our brothers used to do just little shit heads running around doing bad things. But yeah, I don't know if I really stand out memories. Yeah, that's a hard one.
BEN WATERWORTH: Was there any of these little shit things that you did that you care to share at all?
HARRY LAIDLAW: I think we got, we definitely got kicked out of a few restaurants, banned from a few restaurants from fighting and whatnot.
BEN WATERWORTH: Right, like fighting over the sauce or like the last chip or something or just?
HARRY LAIDLAW: We were always fighting. It was ridiculous.
BEN WATERWORTH: Why not?
HARRY LAIDLAW: There you go.
BEN WATERWORTH: Your favourite pump up song is?
HARRY LAIDLAW: Pump up song. Also a hard one. I feel like my music taste is always changing. I like when I'm about to start, I like instrumental music that usually pumps me up. Great. Sort of like Hans Zimmer sort of vibe.
BEN WATERWORTH: Nice.
HARRY LAIDLAW: That works.
BEN WATERWORTH: I like that.
HARRY LAIDLAW: It's epic.
BEN WATERWORTH: Kind of gets you in the zone, which I'm guessing you don't want the AirPods when you're skiing, right? You can't kind of have that to add to a bit of a track, like add your own score to your own event. Well, we'll get them to change that one day. You know, appeal to the kids. The ISA is all about the kids getting into the sports, right? That would work. The most recent TV show that you binge watched is?
HARRY LAIDLAW: Binge Watch, Squid Game. I smashed through that.
BEN WATERWORTH: What were your thoughts?
HARRY LAIDLAW: Good. Loved it. It's good to see an international show sort of explode like that.
BEN WATERWORTH: Go that way. I love all the Halloween. Like at the time of recording this, Halloween just happened, and all the people dressing as Squid Game. This has got to be the number one Halloween costume for 2021.
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah.
BEN WATERWORTH: Fascinating to see how that goes. Your least favourite foods are?
HARRY LAIDLAW: Um, least favourite food is probably lasagna.
BEN WATERWORTH: Okay.
HARRY LAIDLAW: Never liked it. Just like the cheesiness is just too hectic.
BEN WATERWORTH: Not a fan. Interesting. It's just, you're not a fan of cheese, or it's just how cheese is in lasagna.
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah, I guess like lasagna without all the cheeses.
BEN WATERWORTH: Interesting.
HARRY LAIDLAW: I'd be in too, but...
BEN WATERWORTH: So I can't imagine you like Garfield then. Probably not your favourite comic, you know?
HARRY LAIDLAW: But no, there's not much food I don't like. Like, I really hated anything.
BEN WATERWORTH: Go for that. And did you go crazy at the Village after you competed? Like, kind of was that just case of like, okay, no more competition. Load me up with all the Village food.
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah, definitely. I mean, I like, I had knackers definitely a few times, because it was free in the Village. And before that, I hadn't had it for like four years. So, yeah.
BEN WATERWORTH: Do they have like an Olympic special? Like, is there sort of like an item that they maybe just, for Olympics only, this is the Olympian burger or something like that?
HARRY LAIDLAW: Not really. Not that I remember.
BEN WATERWORTH: That's where they need to like, it's like the McRib, right? The McRib comes and goes. So they need to have some sort of like exclusive, which it's not at the Olympics anymore, Harry. Like, it's not going to be there in Beijing, of course. So it's like, it's all the Tokyo athletes are sad that they didn't get their Maccas. So, jeez, come on, McDonald's, bring it back. If you weren't an athlete, what would you be?
HARRY LAIDLAW: Um, probably, yeah, I would like to surf. Like, yeah, maybe I'd do that.
BEN WATERWORTH: Kind of works that way. Do you surf like at the moment?
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah, I'm not very good, but yeah, I love to surf. That works out well. Yeah, that would probably be what I would be doing most of my time.
BEN WATERWORTH: There's your other summer sport, you know, like surfing. It's an Olympic sport now, so, you know.
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah.
BEN WATERWORTH: Why not? Get that proud 11 years to Brisbane. Harry, you got time. Like, you know, training, lots of training. Your favourite vacation spot is?
HARRY LAIDLAW: Vacation, Scott. That's a hard one. I went to this mountain in Switzerland a few years ago. It's called Verbia. Like, yeah, just a crazy place, crazy mountains. Lots of good people there. Just like a nice vibe. Yeah, summer spot. Like, I travelled a bit around South Australia this year, and that was super nice. I think it's a very underrated place. Yeah, also lots of good surfing there. Yeah, just beautiful places that no one goes to.
BEN WATERWORTH: Great. Might be the first Victorian to ever sell South Australia.
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah, I don't know why everyone hates on South Australia. That's sickest place.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, I've been to Adelaide a couple of times. I enjoyed my time there. I didn't see the hate.
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah, we didn't go to Adelaide, but we sort of went along the coast.
BEN WATERWORTH: Nice. Works that way. I'm from Tasmania. Everything's better to me. Oh, yeah. Kind of only goes up. Can I just say, this is no disrespect to anybody listening from this city, but Wollongong wasn't a fan. The gong. Yeah. It wasn't a fan. Maybe I need to go back. I need to see. Fair enough. What do people usually describe you as?
HARRY LAIDLAW: I guess it depends. I mean, I feel like I'm pretty introverted to people I don't know. But then, I don't know, you would hear something different from my close friends. Then, you know, someone doesn't really know me.
BEN WATERWORTH: Kind of getting kicked out of restaurants to me. You know, kind of that gives a bit of an insight into the personality. It's within you, Harry, right? Like, you know, it's kind of like it's still there. I can do it.
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah.
BEN WATERWORTH: Kind of pushing that way. I mean, we sort of touched on this a few times, really. If you could be an Olympian in any other sport other than your own, what would it be?
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah, I mean, I would probably like freestyle skiing would be cool. But yeah, I would probably surf. Yeah, that would be pretty nice.
BEN WATERWORTH: Tahiti, isn't it, for Paris? Obviously, you're not going to find many surfing beaches in downtown Paris, so they've kind of shipped it off to Tahiti.
HARRY LAIDLAW: I didn't know where they would do it, but they have good waves, like on the French coast, pretty far from Paris, though.
BEN WATERWORTH: I don't know if they've announced which beach they're going to have the surfing in Brisbane, because I guess surfing is technically one of those sports which can kind of come and go, so it might not even be part of the program. But it's not like they've got a few different choices there in Brisbane and the Gold Coast, so I think they're going to be OK. So should they decide to go with it. Last question for you, Harry. What is your guilty pleasure?
HARRY LAIDLAW: Guilty pleasure? Like in like a food sense or?
BEN WATERWORTH: I think this is just anything. I mean, Erin's answered here, tea and mystery novels. So. It's very specific. She's answered there.
HARRY LAIDLAW: Is that a guilty pleasure?
BEN WATERWORTH: I don't. Maybe she's maybe she's been shamed from her family. Like you drink coffee and you read nonfiction books. Oh, no, I'm going to do tea and mystery novels.
HARRY LAIDLAW: Guilty pleasure.
BEN WATERWORTH: You're an Essendon supporter, so that's one.
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah. Yeah, I wouldn't say I mean, I don't even really have like sweet tooth, really. So I can't really say like that's a guilty pleasure.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, it's a tough one. Like it's kind of one of those ones that I feel it's like you sometimes you're like, oh, yeah, straight away. Like, you know, I mean, clearly tea and mystery novels for some.
HARRY LAIDLAW: But yeah, sort of maybe like napping or sleeping is my guilty pleasure. Like, I'm always sleeping or I'm always napping. That's a, I don't know, that's guilty.
BEN WATERWORTH: But are you the type of person that like, oh, I've got half an hour. I can, you can just go like that, sleep, get up, and you're fine. Or is it more of a process?
HARRY LAIDLAW: Wow.
BEN WATERWORTH: Teach me your ways, Harry. I've never been able to do that. That must be amazing. Like half an hour to kill, I'm just going to sleep.
HARRY LAIDLAW: I also feel like, I mean, like when I'm, when I'm, when it's the off season and I'm training, like, you know, I'm training, like, you know, a couple of hours in the morning, a couple of hours, a couple of hours in the afternoon, I'm just like constantly tired. So I feel like I could just shut my eyes for three seconds and I'm already asleep.
BEN WATERWORTH: See, there's your superpower. That's that's that's your superpower, really. Yeah, true that. Sleeping whenever you can. Harry, before we let you go, if people want to follow your journey, keep up to date with what you're up to and the road to Beijing and beyond social media, where can people check you out?
HARRY LAIDLAW: Yeah, pretty much just on Instagram, Harry, Jay Laidlaw, and yeah, that's that's about it.
BEN WATERWORTH: No TikTok. I always like to ask this question. Are you on TikTok?
HARRY LAIDLAW: No, I don't have TikTok. I feel like I already spend enough time on my phone and I need to stop. So I think TikTok would just blow my screen time up.
BEN WATERWORTH: Don't don't get it. I use the joke all the time. Well, that's a Kesha song, right? But it's also those biscuits, right? That we have in Australia, those little TikTok-y icing biscuit things.
HARRY LAIDLAW: TikToks.
BEN WATERWORTH: They're good.
HARRY LAIDLAW: I don't know.
BEN WATERWORTH: You know what I'm talking about. You know what I'm talking about. Harry, it's been an absolute pleasure to chat with you today, learn about your career and everything else along the lines. Fingers crossed for Beijing that will be cheering you on there. Cowbells in hand, although, as I said, we'll start off the didgeridoo chants and everything for Australian alpine skiing and we'll get more people involved. We need to get more alpine skiers, but we really appreciate your time on the show, Harry, and good luck. Fingers crossed for everything.
HARRY LAIDLAW: Cheers. Thanks, Hopes. Thanks for having me.
BEN WATERWORTH: And a massive, massive thanks to Harry for his time. Insightful, entertaining, everything that you, of course, want from an interview. As always, a bit of a disclaimer that, of course, as you heard with a few references in there, this interview was recorded several months ago. So by the time you're listening to this, we of course know if Harry is no doubt in Beijing or not. So just to put that into context right now for those listening to this. And of course, as well, if you're listening to this and you've enjoyed it, and you want to see Harry's face, I mentioned he looks like Zac Efron, hit us up on our YouTube channel. You can see exactly if my comparison is a good call or a bad call. Search for Off The Podium, find the video on there, and all the other great interviews that we've done recently. You'll be able to watch them all in the video format. Hit the subscribe button and never miss a video episode there on YouTube. And hit a subscribe button on all our good podcast channels as well. So you never miss one of these episodes, dropping straight to your speakers. And we've got plenty more great episodes, episodes every single day between now and the closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. It's busy. We like it. You're going to be entertained. We're giving you so much Olympic content that you are going to be simply bursting at the seams. And we know you are going to enjoy it. So please enjoy every single second of it. Hit us up on social media as well. Follow us on there. Search Off The Podium, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook. That's how you can stay up to date with everything that we're putting out there. And as always, we love to hear from you. Got a message for us. You want to say good day. You want to send us a request for a guest. We're always open to hear who you would like to have on the show. So shoot us a message. We read everything we get, and we appreciate any feedback that you have along the way. Big thanks again to Harry for his time. Big thanks again to you for listening. Special shout out to Jason Momoa. And until we next speak again, my name is Ben. This is Off The Podium, and as always, go left.
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