Olympic Winter Games 2010

Well done Amy Williams! Although I didn't win a spot at the Olympic Games it is great to be a part of the team when one of your co-athletes produces such a fantastic performance! Having seen the highs and lows for the past 8 years, I have an understanding of the gravity of what has been achieved by the whole British Skeleton Team. Let me list a few of the jobs within the team that leads to such World Class performance: Performance Director, ice coaches, strength & conditioning coach, psychologists, nutritionists, administrators, board members, athletes, aerodynamic engineers, sled technicians, physiologists...all these people, and more; consult, interact, communicate, share ideas, take action and keep the team moving forward towards their main mission - Olympic Medals!
Thanks you to all my family, friends and sponsors who have taken an interest in my sporting career over the past 10 years - I won World Cup medals, am one of the few athletes over 140 kph and I've learnt valuable lessons to take with me in my future endeavors!

ICC8 Park City 2010

4th in this race and 22nd overall World Ranking.

ICC 7 Calgary 2010

I haven't been selected for the Games...13th today sealed my fate! The start house was charged with emotions from athletes around the globe who all had different criteria to qualify themselves for an Olympic spot - for some it was to finish top 60 in the World, for others they had to win the race! Qualifying for the Olympics always contains an element of luck as forces outside your control contribute to dictating your results i.e. how other athletes do, internal politics etc! It would make more sense to me to take the top 25 athletes in the World and then include a further 8 'smaller' nations so as to have the best athletes at the Olympics whilst still including everybody!
I always promised myself that I would include this quote from Theodore Roosevelt, however I did and whatever the result, in this decisive blog entry. It is for all those athletes who are daring greatly and keeping the essential Olympic message alive whether they make it or not!

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

Next week is the last ICC race in Park City - so although it won't count for Olympic selection I will try to represent myself in the best light and finish the season on a high!

ICC 6 Calgary 2010

8th place really was an under performance compared to how well training has gone this week. In terms of Olympic selection, I have to go for it in tomorrows race to show I am in form and have the potential to be an Olympic medalist!! If I can beat Adam (2nd today) and Chris Type (9th today) then I will give the Selection Committee something to think about I hope - on any one day any one of the British Skeleton men on World Cup or ICC could beat the rest! We are a strong team, which makes qualification for the Games that much harder! I have shown I am one of the fastest pushers in the World and with potential to do well in 4 year time in Sochi, that may swings things in my favour!?

ICC 5 Lake Placid 2010

2nd place! A great result - I have achieved my top 3 criteria on this circuit, so I can now be considered for the Olympic team - I'm in the mix! It's probably the most important medal I have won in the last 10 years of international competition - because of the way in which I won it. Having been 'down and out' in 3 of my races before Christmas, and just missing out with a 5th in Cesana, I could have felt defeated, but I'm pleased with my optimism and belief in my chances as a World Class Skeleton pilot! I now need to keep this momentum going into Calgary next week!

ICC 4 Cesana 2009

5th place - much better, during training I thought 'Yep I found my mojo!' I'm with my sled again, which means I can let it run! I had a real chance of a medal here, but at least I'm moving forward, and can go all out for a medal in one of the ICC races after Xmas break!

ICC 3 Konigsee Dec 2009

9th again! My runs weren't too bad, my pushes were good! It's now all out for a medal at Cesana next week!

ICC 2, Winterberg Nov 2009

16th – an absolutely awful result! And there is no definitive reason – I didn’t crash, or push out the spur; my sled is ok I think (still need to check?!) and my push was ok! Sometimes it’s just not there. In Skeleton I think it means I’m not letting it run! There was a great sports psychology TV programme called ‘Loosing It’ – a case in study was the javelin thrower Steve Backley who should have qualified in the World Champs, (I think it was?) by matter of course, but in his words he “just couldn’t hear the music”. A few weeks later he set a World Record! He was the same athlete and couldn’t change physically in that time – it was all in the head and letting his mind communicate the right rhythm to the rest of his body! So I’m going to Konigsee hoping something will ‘click’ and I can relax and let it slide!

ICC Race 1, Winterberg Nov 2009

9th place – which is not fantastic, I’ve had the same result here on World Cup in previous seasons! The athletes on ICC are World Class, but I could have done better – although I’m not sure how?! My starts were, dare I say, blistering! I was happy with them anyway!! I lost it down the track – it requires very subtle steering here and my feeling is that I just did a bit too much!! As always in Winterberg it rained, but for the mens race it didn’t effect the times too much…there is another race tomorrow and I’ll be going for a medal! I’m fairly philosophical regarding my chances of qualifying for Vancouver – I’ve just got to take one race at a time and do my best in each of them – the result will take care of itself!!

Whistler International Training, November 2009

This was really important sliding and learning experience in which I leave feeling that I know my lines and have a game plan for when I'm (hopefully) back here in February 2010 for the 'big race'! Just to prove this is the fastest track in the World, I joined the 140kph club with a run where I clocked 141.52 kph (about 87mph) Not that many Skeleton pilots have broken this barrier and I'm one of the only Brits to do so, a good bit of history for me! The next worthy barrier is 145kph (or 90mph) this speed is taken into an almost 90 degree right hand bend mind!
Wildlife here is great - black bears mooch about all around Whistler! I was warming up at the top of the track and Italy's Marizio Oioli pointed by some containers "There's a bear!" And there was, about 20 feet away! Brilliant, he wandered up along the tree line for a while, but I didn't have my camera on me!
Back to Europe now for training and my first international race of the season in Winterberg!

British Selection Race 2, Lake Placid 2009

2nd place today means, joint first in Selection Points, BUT on count back I'm 0.58 sec behind Andy Wood, so after our international training in Whistler as part of the Olympic preparation next week, he goes to World Cup (WC) and I to Intercontinental Cup (ICC). Sorry kids, this means you won't see me on British Eurosport till after Xmas depending on race results!
I'm pretty gutted, and it definitely feels like a blow to my Olympic hopes, but there is often a silver lining to these occurrences. If I let the negative connotations of this result take hold it can only have negative results - on the other hand I'm on a competitive circuit that will give me a World Ranking that I can still qualify for the Olympics with! Don't forget Adam Pengilly struggled last year and was on ICC until qualifying for the World Champs where he won a silver medal!
I'm going to go forward and compete without fear of failure and keep in mind the big scheme of things, like this sunset I saw at Anchor Point in Morocco this summer - waves are still breaking dude! Vancouver is still there for the taking!

British Selection Race 1, Lake Placid 2009

First place by 0.01 second! This race was real pressure and pure performance! Every bit of experience from the last 12 years of decathlon competition, training with the Marine's (as per the photos) and gems of advice from the people I've met along the way contributed to this result, as it will the rest of my season.
You learn from your past experiences, you hope for your future, but all you can affect is that one little second where you get the chance to perform! The next few months are full of those opportunities for me, and I'm so pleased to be in this position. The end result of my endeavors will form in time, meanwhile I will do all in my control to get to Vancouver 2010, starting with next weeks second Selection race on the same track!

Cesana Drama!

On the day the whole British team were scheduled to fly to Cesana, Italy for our first Selection race, the track had to cancel sliding for all nations as their refridgeration broke down meaning there was no ice on parts of the track! Reportedly one local hotel lost €200,000 as teams relocated themselves to other tracks! Skeleton, Bobsleigh and Luge really does contribute to the local business' every winter season! So we have done a weeks training and testing of our equipment in Winterberg, Germany and have set out early for Lake Placid, where it is snowing already! We'll have two Selection races here to decide who goes to World Cup and Intercontinental Cup for the first half of the season up until X-Mas.
BEHOLD my shiny new helmet! I spent some time in the summer learning how to airbrush this British flag design on the front, and a white Patriarchal cross on the top and back, which is the Boggis race colours (a thankyou to my girlfriends parents for their support over the past couple of summers!)
I'll keep you updated on the race results, which will also be posted on my website antsawyer.com

2009 - 2010 NEW SEASON!

A new season - The Olympic season! - is just around the corner! And I am READY!....almost! In a months time we head out to Cesana for our first selection race, then Lake Placid for our second selection race - and that's just to get on the British team! A valuable training week at Whistler, Vancouver follows! For all you history buffs I have updated my website with some interesting facts on the 'About' page :)
I've just got round to offsetting all my flights from last year - as previously blogged, I know this isn't the solution, but it helps address the adverse effects the amount of travel life as a professional Skeleton pilot requires. Post The Games I plan to really look into the sustainability of this lifestyle! Until then I am committed do doing everything in my power to be on the start line of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games! It's ON!

World Championships Lake Placid 2009

18th rounds off this season with the same sort of empty result that has formed this season! I'm going into this summer totally committed to becoming the Skeleton athlete I know I can be for the 2010 Winter Olympics - this is my shot!!
British Skeleton has a great performance programme, as proven by Adam and Amy both winning silver at this competition - I hope it's my turn next year!! When your hot your hot and with some luck in terms of finding my sled set up - I can be one of the contenders for the medals!
Thanks to Charlie Booker for the photo (link in my Links column) and thanks to my sponsors for their support this difficult season!

Team Event, Lake Placid 2009

5th place! The FIBT have been trying to promote the team event for a couple of years, in which a mens and womens skeleton and bobsleigh all have 1 run each, and all their times are combined to produce a winner! Great Britains team consisted of Amy Williams (Womens Skeleton), Nicola Minichiello and Jackie Davis (Womens Bob), John James Jackson and Henry Nwume (Mens Bob) and myself in Mens Skeleton. It ws a great event and all of us did the best we could - I had a good run that I'm keen to keep consistent for my 4 World Champ runs later in the week. Nicola had the good forune of getting the best timed injury I have ever seen! As we were geting off the podium she twisted her ankle (after winning the womens individual World Championships yesterday!) Plenty of time to recover in the off season now!!

World Cup 8 Park City 2009

16th - in the last of the series of World Cup races this season, it ended on the same sort of vibe as the rest of the year! I'm waiting to see what decision is made on selection for World Championships - the only chance to win funding for the summer - it's not about the money, but having no income makes life somewhat harder! Whatever happens I'm feeling the fire and am totally committed to dedicating my efforts towards qualifying for a great performance at Vancouver 2010! (As it turns out I have been selected for the World Championships - so 5 days of training and preperation for the biggest competition of the year!)

World Cup 7 Park City 2009

11th place - means a few good things for me! Firstly, as a member of the British Skeleton Performance Pathway, I have to reach annual targets to stay on the programme (essential to getting to Vancouver 2010!) Mine this year are a top 8 and two top 12 on World Cup - which I have now done! Phew! Although they are minimums, and I'd hope to do better tomorrow (I was 6th after my first run but had a little bash on the second!)
Also Andy Wood and I are basically having to race off for a spot at the World Championships in Lake Placid next week. Our second run times were exactly the same!! By no means am I in the clear, but he finished 19th. So I need a good result tomorrow - and I feel confident that I can do it! The picture is for inspiration, from the Park City World Cup race last year where I won my first medal!

World Cup 6 Whistler 2009

14th - I've learnt the new Olympic track and feel super enthused for next year! One of the things I've learnt is that when things are going your way and you're fast - you are just fast! My 2007-8 season was like that - and I'll be doing everything I can to make my 2009-10 season the same!!
A big well done to Amy Williams who brought home a 2nd place (very exciting for next year!) which is her best result. Proving my first statement, the Canadian girls had no one in the top 6! The number of runs is not so important after all - it helps as the experience of how to handle differnt corners in different situations assists with your consistency - but when you're fast you're fast! And we're gonna have a real race for the 2010 Olympics!!!

World Cup 5 St Moritz 2009

22nd place, the first time I haven't made the cut in ages! I was pretty upset with the result, it hadn't gone well in training, but race day can be a different kettle of fish! It wasn't to be! Performance goes up and down, and there is no one thing to blame, I've just lost my feeling on the sled! One thing I am sure of is that it will come back!!
It's great to have the support of all my friends and family especially when the results aren't flowing in! I'd like to offer a warm welcome to Be Number 1 as my online sponsor - they are supporting British athletes and can offer you a chance to support your favourite athletes too! Have a click on the link in my 'Links' column on the right of this page!