Aug 3, 2026 · 45 min · 13 segments
From racing XCO at the Tokyo Olympics to taking the overall Life Time Grand Prix title and now conquering the volcanic gravel of Iceland. We sit down with Haley Smith for a raw race debrief of her…
Haley SmithGuestAntoine AlivasséHostwelcome to the episode 10 of the gravel paddock podcast where we talk about pro gravel racing today we are exploring endurance performance mental resilience and a raw race debrief fresh of the volcanic trails of iceland my guest is an olympian a former lifetime grand prix overall winner a phd student and the recent winner of the rift welcome to the pod haley smith
So let's start with a few questions about your career to introduce yourself to the audience.
As mentioned, you've been at the Olympics in Tokyo, and also you said that the pre-Tokyo version of yourself is gone and that your relationship with racing completely changed after these Olympic Games.
What was the biggest mental shift when transitioning from a 90-minute XCO World Cup race or Olympic Games to the long distance gravel scene because it's kind of completely different?
I mean, there's a lot of reasons that I'm a different racer and a different person now than I was before Tokyo.
It was really just sort of a monumental inflection point in my life and a lot of things changed.
It's kind of like going from being a 10K roadrunner to being an ultra, like an ultra marathoner.
But I would say that in order to be the best that you can be at either discipline, it's a very similar thing.
But now with the perspective that I have from having partially achieved my Olympic dream by being there, but falling very far short of what my goals were.
And then there's the things like, you know, with XCO racing, it's pretty intimidating.
But overall, you have to be the same kind of go get them, uh laser focused type of racer in order to succeed
welcome to the episode 10 of the gravel paddock podcast where we talk about pro gravel racing today we are exploring endurance performance mental resilience and a raw race debrief fresh of the volcanic trails of iceland my guest is an olympian a former lifetime grand prix overall winner a phd student and the recent winner of the rift welcome to the pod haley smith
So let's start with a few questions about your career to introduce yourself to the audience.
As mentioned, you've been at the Olympics in Tokyo, and also you said that the pre-Tokyo version of yourself is gone and that your relationship with racing completely changed after these Olympic Games.
What was the biggest mental shift when transitioning from a 90-minute XCO World Cup race or Olympic Games to the long distance gravel scene because it's kind of completely different?
I mean, there's a lot of reasons that I'm a different racer and a different person now than I was before Tokyo.
It was really just sort of a monumental inflection point in my life and a lot of things changed.
It's kind of like going from being a 10K roadrunner to being an ultra, like an ultra marathoner.
But I would say that in order to be the best that you can be at either discipline, it's a very similar thing.
But now with the perspective that I have from having partially achieved my Olympic dream by being there, but falling very far short of what my goals were.
And then there's the things like, you know, with XCO racing, it's pretty intimidating.
But overall, you have to be the same kind of go get them, uh laser focused type of racer in order to succeed
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