Taylor ponders future after World Cup success

BBC News

6 days ago

Britain's Jasmin Taylor is thinking over her future in Telemark skiing after adding three World Cup titles to the two she won last year.The 31-year-old retained her overall and sprint crowns, and also added the classic title at the end of March.But she had to settle for two World Championships bronze medals earlier that month, having last year decided to continue in the sport with the target of a first gold."In preseason, I thought, 'What am I doing here?' I had a lot of doubt. But you press on and step by step, things come together," she told BBC Radio Suffolk."I've got the same feeling now - I don't know what my next step is. I'm trying to weigh it all up because it's a lot to put yourself through, a lot of pressure and a lot of stress. It is amazing but it takes a lot of energy in many different ways."There's always something more you can do, but where's the cut-off? I suppose I need to make a decision within the next month or so [if I'm going to] to start training for the new season."
Telemark skiing events includes slalom, cross-country and ski-jumping elements, but the difference is that the skier's heels are not fixed to the skis.Taylor, from Ipswich, became Britain's first World Championships medallist in the sport at Steamboat Springs in the USA a decade ago.But the next championships will not take place until 2027, so she would have to commit herself to at least two more years on the slopes in order to try again to add gold to the silver and three bronzes she has won in the past.Her World Cup success came despite suffering from a chest infection, which required treatment with antibiotics, in mid-season."The break we had between races in Norway in February and then going again two weeks later in Slovenia, I basically spent the entire time in bed," she said."I was thinking, 'I've got the lead in the World Cup but it's not by a lot, it's still all to play for and I just can't be ill.' It's so difficult to compete and when you're unwell, it's even worse. It creates stress and anxiety."So going into Slovenia, I had quite low expectations and I came away with a second and two firsts. In a way, having that rest, you just have to trust all the training you've put in is going to see you through, and it did."Taylor said her overriding feeling after clinching her World Cup titles at Thyon in Switzerland was one of "massive relief".The University of Suffolk graduate added: "There are four globes up for grabs and I managed to get three of the four, I was third in the parallel [event] - I was in a position where I could have won all four or I could have lost everything."It was such a pressured situation and you really find out what you're made of. I don't really know how I did it exactly but you manage to get ultra-focused and block everything else out."When you're not in a position to control the outcome, which you never really are, the mind plays tricks on you, and you're calculating points, if so and so finishes here, I need to finish there - if you let your mind unravel, it really will."