What goes on in an athlete’s mind in the days or weeks leading up to a big event? We often talk about the physical aspect of preparation, but to be on top of your game you need to be mentally capable of handling the pain and stress that comes from racing, too. The Netherlands’ Maya Kingma – who finished fifth at the SLT Arena Games Rotterdam and qualified for the Olympics in Tokyo – talks about the mental preparation for a race: “Even when you’re not doing something physically, you can train the parts of your brain that are actually used for doing it physically. That’s like imaging or visualization, both terms are used.”
