SET TO SOAR ON A HOT AUGUST NIGHT
It’s etched in her mind, she thinks about it every day and any mention of the Olympics has Nicola Olyslagers talking about it. All roads in her life lead to August 4, the night of the women’s Olympic high jump final in Paris.
“Every competition that I am doing and all the training is leading up to the 4th of August, that Olympic final, and I want to do a personal best on that day,” Olyslagers said. “So every opportunity that I have to compete is testing out one aspect of what that is going to look like, whether it’s training, whether it’s the diet, whether the head space of choosing the right heights.
“I’m hoping that it creates this beautiful masterpiece that is on display right when it needs to be.”
Three years ago in Tokyo, the stars aligned for Olyslagers (nee McDermott) when she produced a personal best jump of 2.02m to win the silver medal behind Mariya Lasitskene (2:04m).
“Tokyo was such an enjoyable competition for me,” she said. “I went in just knowing that I wanted to do a personal best.
“I wanted to jump higher than I ever have before when it counts and that hasn’t changed.
“I’m not looking at placings, I’m not looking at my competitors, I am purely looking at the heights and I want to do something that has never been done before.”
Olyslagers has since raised her career best to 2.03m, which she jumped in the Diamond League final in Eugene last year.
Incredibly, she equalled that in her first competition of the Olympic year in Canberra last month. History shows that to win Olympic gold she will have to improve on 2.03m.
In four of the past five Olympic high jump finals the winner has been over that height, and Russia’s Yelena Slesarenko set the Olympic record of 2.06m in Athens 2004.
Olyslagers, 27, was heartened by how close she got to 2.05m in Canberra, when the attempts felt closer and more comfortable than on previous occasions.
“It was the first time I have looked at 2.05 and it has looked small to me,” she said. “I know I can jump so much higher if I can replicate that.”
Olyslagers has tinkered with her training leading into Paris by using gymnastics for the first time as she looks for that extra edge.
By her own admission, it has pushed her “out of her comfort zone”. Backflips and handstands are now part of her routine. She has also worked on getting faster to go higher.
“Traditionally there is the speed jumper and the power jumper and I am mostly a power jumper,” Olyslagers said. “But my coach (Matt Horsnell) wants to create me into a hybrid and try to be a speed powerful thing.
“Speed wasn’t my strong point growing up so I had to work in the gym hard.
“I used to just use my height and power out of the jump, so I’m adding speed work now because if you are faster, you can get more velocity.”
The women’s high jump is Australia’s best track and field event in Paris given Olyslagers will be joined by 2022 world champion Eleanor Patterson.
At last year’s world championships in Budapest, Patterson took silver and Olyslagers bronze.
They are taking different routes to Paris. Patterson is competing at next month’s world indoor championships in Glasgow, while Olyslagers will remain at home leading up to the national titles in Adelaide in April.
The exact details of the final stages of the Olympic preparation are still up in the air, although Olyslagers wants to compete at the Paris Diamond League on July 7.
“What I did for Tokyo, I can’t physically do that preparation again because I have some meets that are really important,” she said. “Like the Paris Diamond League is on the seventh of July.
“I usually have a month of doing nothing beforehand but I really want to target that competition, so we’re working on a brand new preparation.
“If I remain too planned I can miss out on opportunities.”
However, one date is locked and loaded – August 4.