Performance People

Former Winter Olympian turned broadcaster, Aimee Fuller joins Performance People to reflect on a career defined by courage, creativity and confronting fear. Aimee competed for Team GB at the Winter Olympics in Sochi 2014 and PyeongChang 2018, specialising in slopestyle and big air, and becoming the first woman to land a double backflip in competition. In this conversation, she opens up about the d...

Iain ‘Goobs’ Jensen reflects on elite performance, pressure and resilience in SailGP. This episode of Performance People, in partnership with J.P. Morgan Private Bank, was recorded in Abu Dhabi, just ahead of the SailGP Grand Final, at a moment of real intensity, both for the championship and for Goobs personally. From Olympic gold, via a 2025 Emirates GBR treble to a new chapter with Australian F...

From defining moments to peak performance, recovery, leadership and everything in between, this special end-of-year episode brings together the very best of Performance People . Across the past year, we’ve sat down with world-class athletes, coaches and thinkers to understand what really drives performance, not just on the biggest stages, but in the moments that shape careers and lives. This highl...

Ben Ryan is one of the most distinctive performance leaders in elite sport. Now Performance Director at Brentford Football Club, Ben is helping shape one of the Premier League’s most progressive, data-driven environments, where alignment, culture and marginal gains matter as much as talent. In this conversation with Georgie Ainslie, Ben explains how Brentford’s performance model works in practice:...

In this episode, Georgie sits down again with human performance coach Pete McKnight, a man with nearly 25 years’ experience shaping Olympians, F1 drivers and world-class performers. Pete breaks down what “human performance” really is: a multi-dimensional blend of physiology, psychology, cognition and nutrition, and why the days of thinking fitness alone defines performance are long gone. He explai...

Fresh from a history-making weekend in Abu Dhabi, Ben Ainslie joins Georgie at home to reflect on Emirates GBR’s extraordinary treble; the season title, the Grand Final and the Impact League win and why this victory mattered more than most after a turbulent year for the team.  Ben breaks down the decisive moments of the Grand Final race, highlighting Dylan Fletcher’s leadership and charting t...

Recorded in Abu Dhabi as Emirates GBR were crowned SailGP 2025 Champions, England’s fast bowling G.O.A.T. Jimmy Anderson joins Performance People, in partnership with J.P. Morgan Private Bank, for a wide-ranging conversation on cricket, leadership and longevity. Fresh from experiencing an F50 race boat up close, Jimmy reflects on England’s two-day defeat in the opening Ashes Test, a result that st...

This week on Performance People , Georgie is joined by writer, broadcaster and former Olympian Matthew Syed; one of the most influential thinkers on high performance today. In a conversation that moves from table-tennis halls in suburban Reading to global sporting icons, Matthew unpacks the moments and mentors that shaped his life, and the ideas that continue to guide his work. He reflects on the...

On this episode of Performance People , in partnership with JP Morgan Private Bank, Georgie speaks with Vicky Gosling OBE, CEO of GB Snowsport, whose career has been shaped by one extraordinary defining moment. In 2013, Vicky was preparing to deploy to Afghanistan, leaving behind her young family for what she thought would be a demanding posting. Instead, a phone call redirected her life: she was...

When Joan MacDonald hit her seventies, she was on medication for high blood pressure, struggling with mobility, and feeling “blue.” Her daughter, fitness coach Michelle MacDonald, knew something had to change. Together, they transformed Joan’s life and in the process, inspired millions worldwide. In this deeply moving episode, Georgie talks to Joan and Michelle about the journey that turned a reti...

Emma Kimiläinen and Sam Coleman race for Team Brady in the E1 World Championship, a new era of electric hydrofoil racing where men and women compete on equal terms. Heading into the Championship Finale in Miami at the top of the standings, they join Georgie Ainslie to reflect on the mindset and trust that keep them there. Emma explains how motherhood made her a calmer, more empathetic and ultimate...

Two-time Olympic triathlon gold medallist Alistair Brownlee joins Performance People to reflect on the moment that defined him; carrying his brother Jonny across the 2016 World Triathlon Series Grand Final finish line in an instant which exemplified what sportsmanship should look like. Fresh from running the Empire State Building’s 80-plus floors, Brownlee shares why he’s embracing a new chapter o...

In this episode of Performance People , Georgie sits down with Red Roses Rugby World Cup winner Abi Burton, whose story of survival, recovery, and triumph is as heart wrenching as it is inspiring. At just 22, Abi was struck down by a rare autoimmune brain illness that left her fighting for her life. But somehow, after more than 3 weeks in a coma, she recovered, rebuilt her body and mind, and made...

Sleep, travel, and the gut are performance variables, not just wellness trends. In this episode, gut-health scientist and clinician Dr Megan Rossi, (The Gut Health Doctor), joins Georgie to connect the gut–brain axis to training quality, recovery, and race-day consistency. We dig into why even two or three nights of poor sleep can shift the microbiome and how supporting your gut can, in turn, impr...

What does it take to climb a Himalayan peak, one identical twin in modern mountaineering kit and the other in the wool and leather of George Mallory’s 1920s wardrobe? That’s exactly the question adventurers Hugo and Ross Turner, better known as the Turner Twins, are about to answer. In this episode, recorded just before they set off for Mera Peak in Nepal, the brothers share the thinking behind th...

In this episode of Performance People , Georgie sits down with her old colleague, Ted Kravitz, Sky Sports F1 pit-lane reporter and author of his new book, F1: An Insider’s Guide . Ted shares the defining moments that shaped his career, from discovering the intimacy of late-night radio to standing trackside at Silverstone and realising Formula 1 would become more than just a passion. Ted reflects o...

In this episode of Performance People , Georgie sits down with George North, one of Wales’s greatest rugby players, to explore the defining moment that shaped his extraordinary career as he launches his autobiography. From growing up on the island of Anglesey, dreaming of the iconic red jersey, to scoring two tries on his Wales debut against South Africa at just 18, to his latest incarnation in th...

This week, Georgie welcomes back Dr Peter Tierney, senior research scientist with a PhD in sports science, whose career spans work with Leinster Rugby, Chelsea FC, the English FA and Lululemon. Together they explore what elite sport can teach us about exercising effectively in midlife. Peter explains how athletes like Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and LeBron James have extended their careers throu...

This week we’re joined by Sam Vesty, head coach of the reigning Premiership Rugby champions, Northampton Saints, for a candid look at creative leadership in a data-driven era. Sam explains why numbers matter, but only in service of what players see and feel on the pitch. In “open” sports like rugby, he argues, intuition, context and decision-making under pressure beat dashboards alone. We dig into...

On this episode of Performance People, we welcome Dr Tommy Wood; neuroscientist, performance coach and, in his own words, “elite professional nerd.” An Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Neuroscience at the University of Washington, Tommy also co-hosts the Better Brain Fitness podcast and serves as Hintsa Performance’s head scientist in motorsport. In this conversation, Tommy unpacks how we can...

Elite performance coach Bradley Scanes joins the podcast to share insights from working at the highest levels of elite sport, most notably as Max Verstappen’s performance coach through four Formula One World Championship titles. With a background spanning gymnastics, basketball, football, boxing and UFC, Bradley explains how performance principles can be applied across sports, even as specialist a...

England cricket star Tammy Beaumont joins Georgie to revisit one of the defining moments of her career - her player of the series performance at the 2017 Women’s Cricket World Cup. Tammy opens up about the build-up to that tournament, the emotions in the dressing room, and the personal torment which defined her first few innings. She shares how the experience has shaped her perspective on pressure...

In this episode of Performance People, world-renowned sleep expert Professor Russell Foster returns to talk midlife, stress, hormones and why your sleep might not be as “fine” as you think. Russell explains that most people in midlife don’t have a sleep disorder, they have a stress or anxiety problem, often brought on by the pressures of kids, careers, ageing parents, and lost support systems. He...

In this episode of Performance People , Georgie speaks with Dame Sarah Storey, winner of a mind-blowing 19 Paralympic gold medals, about the moment that changed everything: her debut, aged just 14, at the 1992 Barcelona Paralympic Games. Sarah reflects on what it meant to represent Great Britain so young, and how that early experience shaped her extraordinary multi-decade career in elite spor...

Sky News Sports presenter Jacquie Beltrao joins Georgie for a deeply personal conversation about resilience, identity, and what sport has taught her about life. From a humble upbringing to the Olympic stage, Jacquie shares how her dream of competing in rhythmic gymnastics at the 1984 Los Angeles Games became a reality — despite the heartbreak of losing her mum just weeks before. She reflects on th...