Inside the mind of Canada's Mikaël Kingsbury, the greatest moguls skier in history

Mikaël Kingsbury starts tapping on his steering wheel, the sun splashing across the dash of his electric Volvo, as if he's a drummer in a band.

There's no music, only the pitter patter of his hands. He first starts slow, a methodical rhythm — left, right … left, right… left, right … Kingsbury starts speeding up.

Driving down the freeway after a training session near his home in Deux-Montagnes, Que.,near Montreal, the 2018 Olympic moguls champion is explaining how approaches and executes every race he competes in. 

"This is when I'm about to hit the first jump," he says, closing his eyes for a brief second while driving, becoming almost meditative, as if he's going down the hill. 

He continues, for exactly 23 seconds, a golden soundtrack of a perfect run. 

"I never listen to music when I'm skiing. I listen to the noise of my skis. It's like a drum solo," Kingsbury says.

He starts tapping his steering wheel again, getting ready to go through another run. 

"You know when you land the first jump the rhythm sounds like this." Left, then right with his hands again. "I'm hitting the bottom air now. It gets into your head and into my body and you know if you follow that rhythm you're right where you need to be." 

It's this precision, this mental edge, this visualization the 29-year-old believes is part of what sets him above the rest.

He's finishing explaining a second run down the hill. 

"That was a little shorter. The middle section takes about 15 seconds," he says. "It depends on the course. Sometimes the courses are different and I have to change up my rhythm a bit."

He's tapping on his steering wheel again, this time changing the cadence. 

"A tight course will be faster. It's like a drumbeat."

And then he throws his hands up, taking them off the steering wheel quickly, as if he's celebrating another golden run, something he's done a record 65 times on the World Cup circuit and once on the biggest stage at the Olympics.