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# Anna Hemmings
- URL: https://www.thebeyondpodcast.com/guests/anna-hemmings/
- Published: 2026-09-10T08:55:54.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-10T09:50:27.000Z
- Description: Six-time world champion marathon kayaker and two-time Olympian, now a high performance and resilience specialist for leaders under pressure.
- Author: Elliott King
- Tags: guest, Anna Hemmings

**Six-Time World Champion / Olympian / High Performance and Resilience Specialist**

Anna Hemmings MBE is Britain's most successful female marathon kayaker and a specialist in high performance and resilience. Across a fifteen-year international career she won six world titles and three European titles, eleven World and European Championship medals in all, and competed at two Olympic Games, Sydney 2000 and Beijing 2008.

At the peak of that career she was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome and told by a doctor she would never compete again; two years later she returned to regain her world and European crowns, then added two more world championships. She was named Champion at the Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year Awards in 2005 and appointed MBE for services to sport in 2010.

Since retiring in 2009 she has founded the training consultancy Beyond the Barriers, trained in neurofeedback, and spent more than fifteen years as a keynote speaker and leadership coach, bringing the psychology of elite sport to leaders and teams under pressure.

## Credentials

- Six-time marathon kayak world champion (K1 1999, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007; K2 2001) and three-time European champion
- Two-time Olympian: Sydney 2000 and Beijing 2008
- MBE for services to sport, 2010 New Year Honours
- Champions Award, Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year Awards, 2005
- Honorary Fellow, Royal Holloway, University of London (2007); BSc Economics and Management
- Founder, Beyond the Barriers high-performance training consultancy; keynote speaker and leadership coach

## Find Anna

- [annahemmings.com](https://annahemmings.com)
- [Beyond the Barriers](https://www.beyondthebarriers.co.uk)
- [LinkedIn](https://uk.linkedin.com/in/anna-hemmings-mbe)

## Their episode

*How a Six-Time World Champion Performs Under Pressure | Anna Hemmings*, on The BEYOND Podcast with Aleksandra King.

[Listen to the episode](https://www.thebeyondpodcast.com/how-a-six-time-world-champion-performs-under-pressure-anna-hemmings/)