Freeskiing Museum

Tag: The Mayrand Podcast

  • Troy Podmilsak

    Release date: December 22, 2025

    Listen on Spotify HERE!

    Discussion with pro skier and X Games gold medalist, Troy Podmilsak Troy is a pro skier, X Games big air gold medalist and part of a new generation that is pushing the boundaries of big air skiing. He blew up onto the scene as a grom showcasing great promise through his online videos. As a teen, Troy climbed the competition ladder and eventually made it on to world cups as part of the US team. Ever since he made in the big leagues, Troy has been progressing and cementing his spot as one of the best big air skiers in the world. His accolades include winning both slopestyle and big air at the 2022 FIS Jr world championships, Winning the 2023 FIS world championships big air and winning the 2024 X Games big air. In this episode we talked about troy’s upbringing and how he got into park skiing. His rise in the competitive scene of freeskiing and the challenges of making it in such a dominant country. We went deep into the big air scene with the new tricks, the trends, the airbags, the training, the strategies, the different comps, jumps and formats. We talked about his relationship with his coach being freeski legend TJ Schiller. We talked about last years x games where the level was insane and where troy placed 4th with a perfect trip 21 mute and almost landed a trip 23 mute. this was a great talk with one of freeskiing’s most dominant big air skier side note this episode was recorded before the first 2 big air comps of the season, which troy ended up winning. Troy ended up winning the secret garden and steamboat big air world cups and is now qualified for the olympics.

  • Luca Harrington

    Release date: April 26, 2026

    Listen on Spotify HERE!

    Discussion with pro skier, X Games gold medalist and olympic medalist, Luca Harrington

    Luca is a pro skier, X games gold medalist, Olympic medalist and currently one of the most dominant comp skier in the world. In this episode we talked about Luca’s upbringing in New Zealand and how he got into skiing. We talked about his inspiration from past legends from New Zealand and what’s in the water over there that creates so many pro skiers. We went deep into his meteoric rise within the competition scene in the past 2 years. Where back to back world cup wins in Kreischberg and Klagenfurt started a run of 8 world cups podiums, 4 x games medals, 1 crystal globe and 1 olympic medal. We talked about the intricacies of slopestyle and big air comp skiing as well as the judging behind all of it. We also talked about this season’s Milano Cortina Olympics and the accomplishment and disappointment that came with it for him.

    We also went into many other subjects including but not limited to bringbacks, cindy grabs, esco grabs, being a x games alternate, having your brother as a fellow pro skier, having a US citizenship, choosing to focus on slopestyle and big air despite promising results in halfpipe and much much more.

  • Paul Bergeron

    Episode #12

    Release date: April 9, 2021

    Listen on Spotify HERE!

    Discussion with Canadian ex pro skier, now filmmaker Paul Bergeron aka ”B-Paul”.

    Paul is an ex pro skier who made a lot of waves in the ski industry with his unique style and world-class skills. He quickly made a name for himself filming with Quebec crews NSF productions and ESK media. Later on, he cemented his position as an influential skier competing on the world stage and filming with crews like Stept and Inspired media. With a series of injuries, Paul transitioned towards filmmaking. He since worked on projects such as JF Houle’s HOULIGAN movie & 2016 Real ski silver medal video and Émile Bergeron’s 2020 real ski silver medal video.

    We discussed his whole career. His youth growing up in Lac-Beauport, Québec. His influences in skiing and what led him to get his first sponsors. The rise from a local guy to a skier known as one of the best in the world. The struggle of living the pro skier lifestyle in an era where the Olympics changed a lot of things. Dealing with multiple injuries and finally transitioning into filmmaking.

  • Paul Bergeron

    Episode #13

    Release date: April 16, 2021

    Listen on Spotify HERE!

    Discussion with Canadian ex pro skier, now filmmaker Paul Bergeron aka ”B-Paul”.

    Paul is an ex pro skier who made a lot of waves in the ski industry with his unique style and world-class skills. He quickly made a name for himself filming with Quebec crews NSF productions and ESK media. Later on, he cemented his position as an influential skier competing on the world stage and filming with crews like Stept and Inspired media. With a series of injuries, Paul transitioned towards filmmaking. He since worked on projects such as JF Houle’s HOULIGAN movie & 2016 Real ski silver medal video and Émile Bergeron’s 2020 real ski silver medal video.

    We discussed his whole career. His youth growing up in Lac-Beauport, Québec. His influences in skiing and what led him to get his first sponsors. The rise from a local guy to a skier known as one of the best in the world. The struggle of living the pro skier lifestyle in an era where the Olympics changed a lot of things. Dealing with multiple injuries and finally transitioning into filmmaking.

  • Giray Dadali

    Episode #14

    Release date: April 23, 2021

    Listen on Spotify HERE!

    Discussion with pro skier, engineer and entrepreneur Giray Dadali.

    Super interesting discussion with Giray Dadali where we talked about a 1000 subjets including growing up in western New york, growing up skiing moguls at a small hill, being influenced by legends like David Crichton, The east coast scene in the 2000’s, filming with Meathead Films, moving to Utah at 18, Competing in all types of events, dealing with gnarly injuries, getting an engineering degree while pursuing skiing, working on the behind the scenes with J skis and 4FRNT and starting his own business, Daymaker touring.

    Giray is not only a great skier, he is a super nice and smart guy who not only loves skiing, but also knows A LOT about it.

  • LJ Strenio

    Episode #15

    Release date: April 30, 2021

    Listen on Spotify HERE!

    Discussion with pro skier, freeski legend and X Games medalist LJ Strenio.

    This was an in-depth discussion about street skiing. First discussing the 2021 edition of the X Games real ski contest where LJ was a judge. Then discussing his 2017 real ski video that got him a bronze medal. In between these two main subjects, we got to talk about everything street skiing, the progression, injuries, working with a filmer, evaluating and dealing with risks, knowing when to push yourself and when to stop.

  • Félix Rioux

    Episode #16

    Release date: May 7, 2021

    Listen on Spotify HERE!

    Discussion with ski industry legend Félix Rioux.

    We talked about Félix’s upbringing in Montréal and how he got to work in the ski industry. The early days of freeskiing with the snowblade and inline skating influences. Traveling the world with the best skiers as a professional photographer. Co-founding D-structure shop and IF3 festival. Working as a marketing director for various companies and much much more. Félix has been around the block since the inception of freeskiing and it was really interesting to get to chat with him.

  • Phil Casabon

    Episode #1

    Release date: Nov. 28, 2020

    Listen on Spotify HERE!

  • Alex Bellemare

    Episode #17

    Release date: May 14, 2021

    Listen on Spotify HERE!

    Discussion with pro skier, X Games medalist and Olympian Alex Bellemare.

    We talked about Alex growing up in a small town in Québec. Being influenced by JP Auclair and Phil Casabon. Skiing as much as he could, which led him to eventually make a name for himself by dominating the Québec scene for a couple of years. Traveling to whistler, Mt hood and Colorado to take his skiing to the next level. Eventually making a name for himself starting in 2011 by filming his classic Afterdark segment with Level 1 productions. Having his dream come true of becoming a pro skier in the following year with back to back results at Dew tour and X Games.

    Alex was a great guest who had great behind the scenes stories and insights, this one is a must listen to!

  • Alexi Godbout

    Episode #2

    Release date: December 13, 2020

    Listen on Spotify HERE!

    Discussion with pro skier Alexi Godbout ranging from his early days getting picked up by Salomon, to his competition days traveling the world competing in the world’s biggest events, and his focus to backcountry and big mountain skiing since 2015.