To say Canadian ski crosser Brady Leman is a fierce competitor might be putting it lightly. He's the type of racer who expects to be first in every run, in every heat, in every competition, and also the type to occasionally show his disappointment when he doesn't live up to his own lofty standards. Luckily for himself, Leman has the skill set to go along with his own expectations. Possessing an ideal combination of powerful starts, aggressive line selection, and canny maneouvering (watch him casually speed a check a jump mid race in order to set himself up for a line no other athlete has seen), Leman is a near-perfect combination of passion and technique. Leman was runner-up for the ski cross Crystal Globe to Filip Flisar last year, and the growing rivalry between Leman and the "casual" Slovenian is perhaps one of the most compelling in any World Cup discipline right now.