In this episode, we head to France to talk to ITAMAR BIRAN, currently ISRAEL'S fastest ALPINE SKIER, and who is currently competing on the FIS Alpine Skiing circuit. As this episode goes live, he actually just finished competing in an FIS Citizen event at La Norma, France, where he came 15th in the Slalom on the first day of competition. He has competed at a Youth Winter Olympics, Youth World Championships, and was the youngest competitor at the 2015 FIS World Alpine Skiing Championships in Vail, Colorado, USA, where he was 16 years old. Now 18 years old, fresh out of high school, he has three years of competitive skiing under his belt and is aiming at the upcoming World Championships; and qualification for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. We talked about the challenges of competing for a smaller nation, the challenges of being a self-funded athlete, his passion for his sport, and his approach to goal-making and failures, in that you don't necessarily have to set concrete goals for yourself, and that failures are learning opportunities, and end up improving you in the long term. Itamar currently has a crowdfunding campaign going on at MAKEACHAMP where he is raising funds for his competition and training costs. If you want to find out more about this campaign and contribute, you can visit the following address: https://makeachamp.com/itamarbiran/26293 To learn more and follow Itamar's results, you can check out the following links: https://makeachamp.com/itamarbiran/26293 (Twitter Page, English) https://www.instagram.com/the_itamar/ (Instagram, English) https://www.facebook.com/itybiran/ (Facebook, English)