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Election deniers are mobilizing their supporters and rolling out new tech to disrupt the November election. These groups are already organizing on hyperlocal levels, and learning to monitor polling places, target election officials, and challenge voter rolls. And though their work was once fringe, its become mainstreamed in the Republican Party. Today on WIRED Politics Lab, we focus on what these groups are doing, and what this means for voters and the election workers already facing threats and harassment.Listen to and follow WIRED Politics Lab here.Be sure to subscribe to the WIRED Politics Lab newsletter here.

Oksana Masters has competed in four different Paralympic sports—rowing, cross-country skiing, biathlon, and cycling—and in every Paralympic Games, summer and winter, going back to 2012. She’s won eight medals along the way. So she knows a thing or two about pushing through pain. A double amputee above the knee, Oksana talks about how she found therapy in sports, the simple counting trick she uses when her self-talk starts going south, and why she approaches races as just another day of training. 

Kyra Condie is preparing to compete in the first-ever Olympic climbing competition by sharpening a collection of tools that includes everything from opera playlists to visualization to something called the inverted U of optimal functioning. On this episode, she and sports psychologist Dr. Lindsay Shaw unpack how those things help Kyra conquer difficult climbs—and how you can make use of them in your own life.

U.S. distance runner Molly Seidel earned her trip to the Tokyo Summer Games when she finished second in the 2019 Olympic marathon trials—which was also the first marathon she’d ever run. On this episode, Molly talks about wanting to eat the other runners' lunch, how she ran on a broken pelvis for a year, embracing the feeling of being “a pot of water about to boil over," and the lessons that she and her trainer, Jon Green, have learned from training at peak discomfort.

In fencing, it’s important to strike fast—but not quite as important as it is to strike true: to have a clear enough head see where your opponent’s baiting you, or what tricks your nerves might be playing on you. U.S. saber fencer Daryl Homer took home a silver medal from the 2016 Olympics because he was able to do just that. On this episode, he shares lessons from two decades of fencing about controlling emotions, the surprising freedom of admitting you’re scared, and other tips for self-mastery he’s bringing to his quest for a Tokyo gold. 

WARNING: This episode contains discussion of suicidal ideation.
After placing 6th at the 2016 Rio Olympics and later setting a world record by racewalking a mile in 5:31, Tom Bosworth experienced intense self-doubt and depression. On this episode, he talks about the special goal-setting strategy that helped him beat impostor syndrome—and make it to Tokyo this summer. Plus, a dive into the signature racewalking “hip wiggle."