Back on home soil, Sportsister managed to catch a few moments with one of Britain’s brightest stars on the track, Jess Varnish. After a superb performance at the European Track Championships in Poland, the young cyclist has wasted no time getting back into training but managed to squeeze us in to talk about life on two wheels.
Congratulations on your silver medal (in the team sprint with Victoria Pendleton) – how does it feel?
I was really happy, we’re racing again in two weeks time so I’m already looking ahead but it feels great. I didn’t expect to go out there and do two personal bests so that was really good. It’s the best I’ve ever done in both events but especially the team sprint. We qualified fastest but we both went out a little slow in the final which is a shame, but I’m sure that won’t happen again. Me and Vicky were really pleased to get the silver and hopefully next time, it will be gold!
Both youself and Laura Trott are the younger members of the team, how does it feel to be in amongst such experienced riders?
It’s really good to have the more experienced riders there that you can look up to. They’ve done it so many times before and they’re there to help us along the way and we’ve got to step up and try and be as good as they are.
So what’s life like being part of Team GB?
It’s great, it’s such a good team to be in and at these Championships everyone was so relaxed. It was the first competition to get Olympic qualification points so everyone was in really good sprits and it was just a great team to be a part of.
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Related stories:
Cycling: Day one at the European Track Championships
Cycling: Riders selected for 2010/2011 Olympic Academy Programme
Olympics: Confidence riding high for London 2012
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The Beijing Olympics were hugely successful for the Team GB in the cycling, has that put more pressure on for London 2012?
I think it’s just made us more excited. We have the best team behind us to help us and it’s all down to hard work so I’m going to do everything I can to get there.
Looking ahead to London 2012, what are the short term and longer term plans in the run up to the Olympics?
We’ve got a couple of World Cups coming up, the first is in Melbourne and the second in Columbia and then the World Championships at the end of March which are all big goals for me. I’m going to be building on my strength and power and doing everything I can to get me to 2012.
Who do you see as your main competition at the moment?
In the team sprint it’s the Australian girls (Anna Meares and Kaarle McCulloch). They’re World champions but also China, France and Lithuania are all ones the watch out for. It’s going to be a really hard competition. We’ll be racing against the Australian girls on their home turf in Melbourne and everyone’s bigged up in their own country. But we’ve raced against them before in Australia and it’s a really good experience to have. Plus they’ll have to do it as well when they come over here!
And finally, are you confident that come 2012 you will be where you want to be in terms of your cycling?
I’m confident that I’m going to do everything I can to get there and just keep progressing and hopefully that will be enough to get me in the team.
There’s no denying the wealth of British talent out on the tracks and if things keep going the way they are, then Jess Varnish is going to be one of the names on everybody’s lips come 2012.
Kirsty Page, Sportsister
The Women’s Sports Magazine
Image credit: British Cycling
