Episode 260: Lesley McKenna - Risk Aesthetic

Welcome to the second of three post–Winter Olympics episodes in which I am examining the recent Winter Olympics from a variety of different perspectives. In this second episode, I’m joined by Lesley McKenna, one of snowboarding’s great original thinkers. A pro skier, snowboarder, coach and team manager, she is herself a three-time Olympian, and helped run GB Park & Pipe in the years when Jenny Jones and Billy Morgan won their medals. She has spent the last few years working on a Phd that analyses the tension that exists between a traditional sporting structure as epitomised by the Olympics, and a none-conventional action sports culture such as snowboarding. She’s has called it the Risk Aesthetic Framework , and it is fascinating stuff. Why does this matter? Because while snowboarding now looks fully integrated into the Winter Olympics, its relationship with the Games has always been complex — and at times uneasy. In this conversation, we dig into judging controversies, cultural friction, performance vs. progression, and ask whether something essential is gained — or lost — when snowboard culture enters the Olympic machine. As ever with Lesley, this is a mind-bending conversation: endlessly intellectually-stimulating, and full of the ideas and provocations that mark her work out as so original. If you care about snowboarding and its culture, don’t miss this one. -- This week’s codes to use for some big old savings: LOOKINGSIDEWAYS for HUGE savings on ski and snowboard hire with Intersport this winter. LOOKINGSIDEWAYS10 for 10% off any order from Finisterre LOOKINGSIDEWAYSXDB for 15% off anything from Db LOOKINGSIDEWAYS2026 for 15% off any Albion purchase LOOKINGSIDEWAYS for a whopping 20% off anything from Goodrays . LOOKINGSIDEWAYS for 15% off any Stance order -- To find out more about what I do, you can sign up as a subscriber to my Substack newsletter here . There's a brilliant community and much more than just the podcasts. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit

You can listen to Episode 260: Lesley McKenna - Risk Aesthetic online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Episode 260: Lesley McKenna - Risk Aesthetic is an episode from Looking Sideways Action Sports Podcast by Matt Barr.

This episode is 89:02 long.

This episode was published on Mar 9, 2026.

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