Embracing fear has unlocked a golden side to Zoe Atkin and the freeskier is now ready to get scared on her journey to Olympic stardom.
The 23-year-old spends her time throwing herself down a giant halfpipe of ice and doing flips in the middle of the air for a job, and for fun.
But it isn't all 'daredevil' this and 'fearless' that. In fact, Atkin knows that it is exactly the opposite, with the slightest mistake often resulting in serious injury.
Since making her Olympic debut at Beijing 2022, where she finished ninth, Atkin has changed her tactics and welcomed in the fear that once controlled her.
And with a bid to win a maiden Olympic medal on the cards at Milano Cortina 2026, Atkin knows that her superpower might just be the key.
"Something that's unique about freeski halfpipe is that it's an action sport," said Atkin, speaking exclusively to TNT Sports pundit Aimee Fuller.
"It's very dangerous, there are very small margins for error and that fear is something that really used to hold me back.
"Learning a little bit more about the processes of fear and the power of the mind through my psychology modules at school and through cognitive science and understanding the processes of fear has really helped me.
"I think it's helped me take a step back a little bit when I'm in those high-pressure moments being like, 'Okay this is just a feeling', I can be scared.
"That's been really key to unlocking a level of performance that I feel like I've really shown in the past four years.
"So I'm definitely really excited to showcase my new skills and my new ability to handle all the high stress emotions that come with my sport."
Atkin is studying symbolic systems at Stanford University in California. In layman's terms, the course is a mix between cognitive science and computer science and is as complicated as it sounds.
She credits the study as the reasoning behind her shift in mentality and perspective on fear but it is also of wider importance, helping her to switch off from skiing when needed.
After all, the mental side of sport is just as important as the physical.
"We study a lot of the brain and how we think and also those systems in computers as well," she said.
"I think that's been really key for me in my high performance and being able to overcome a lot the fear and mental struggles but also I think that having something outside of skiing has really helped being able to exist outside of my results.
"With all that newfound ability in her mental state, Atkin has only soared on the international scene."
This season alone she has won three World Cup medals, including one gold, and the coveted X Games title, a crown so iconic in snowboarding and freestyle skiing it might as well be an actual crown.
Her X Games victory came just over two weeks ago and with that confidence still bubbling inside of her, Atkin is using it to propel her to the ultimate prize at Milano Cortina 2026.
"I definitely feel a little bit of pressure for sure, but I think a lot of that comes internally because I know what I'm capable of if I put down a good run," she said.
"I think being able to win the X Games, was a really big confidence boost for me.
"I'm just trying to carry that confidence and that belief in myself into my event to get the results I want.
"I'm just trying to keep my focus on that rather than all the craziness around the Olympics. Trying to enjoy the experience and focus on what I can control, which is my skiing."
Sportsbeat 2026