Behind the Scenes I Telemark Athletes I Jasmin Taylor (GBR)

Jan 21, 2019·Telemark

Jasmin Taylor Britain's number one Telemark skier is setting her sights high ahead of this weekend’s World Cup opener in La Thuile.

Taylor has spent her pre-season in Hintertux Austria up on glaciers for some early season snow.

“Because we’re a small nation we team up with other smaller nations. Believe it or not the USA is a small nation in Telemark also Czech Republic and Russia. So a big group of us for a nice diverse training arrangement. It also motivates you to do well.”

Great Britain may not be considered a smaller nation for much longer after Dan Hunt the new performance director of GB Snowsport announced his ambition to launch Great Britain on the global scale.

“We’re climbing up the ladder on the snow sport front now. They’ve got this huge ambition to be a top five nation, so we’ll see how that goes. I don’t see anything wrong with aiming high and if let’s say they finish sixth I don’t think there’s anything to disappointed. It’s better to set a goal super high and maybe miss it than not try at all.”

The four-time World Cup race winner couldn’t contain her excitement speaking about what she is looking forward to now the season is fast approaching.

“Just getting back on my skis, just the feeling of going around gates, skiing turns and getting back on snow really that feeling of being back in the mountains.”

The World Championships in March it is the biggest event of the 2018/19 season but, Taylor isn’t letting herself get carried away that.

“The World Cup is quite a significant block itself. I’m not even thinking about the World Champs, we’re just dealing with the World Cups first and probably once they’re done, they’re out of the way, recovered a bit and get training again. Then you can approach the World Championships as a different thing because they are a separate thing.”

With the World Championships being the highlight of most athlete’s careers. The two-time World Championship medallist is adamant that she will not be taking it easy during the World Cup season before heading to Norway to compete in the World Championships.

"You’ve got to go all out. Skiing isn’t like the 100 meters it’s not so physiological it’s not purely reliant on that. It relies on the line you take, how you prepare your skis, how you’re feeling on the day. In theory you are much safer because you are giving it your full attention, you’re not distracted or worrying about something else.”

But first up for Taylor is a trip through the Mont-Blanc tunnel to Italy from there through the Aosta Valley up to La Thuile. The British number one spent some time before Christmas in La Thuile doing some filming work for the BBC.

“It’s incredibly steep. It is kind of shockingly steep when you ski it. It takes your breath away a bit when you head towards and off the jump, but its good fun.”

“I remember training there when I was still in alpine, it is funny to think I'll be returning there to do a Telemark World Cup race. Before Christmas I did some filming for BBC’s Ski Sunday in La Thuile, that was a new experience it was quite cool so that’s a stand out memory.”

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Behind the Scenes I Telemark Athletes I Jasmin Taylor (GBR)

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