With only 11 days until the long-awaited Tokyo Olympic Games kick off, athletes around the globe are ramming up their training efforts in the hopes of scoring a shiny gold medal in their respective sports. One of those athletes, Aussie canoeist Jess Fox, who stars as one of our five digital cover stars for the special Olympics August issue, is not just doing that – but so much more.
“It’s the last block of training before we head overseas. We’re going to Europe for the world cup events in June and that’ll be our first international competition since February 2020,” Jess tells us over the phone a few weeks before the team’s departure. “It’s super exciting to finally be able to hit the start line, and for us that’s important because you know, our sports, a lot of that adaptability on different courses and having been home for the last year and not had too much variety, it’ll be really stimulating. We’re in that final phase before we head off and then we’ll have some World Cup events and then we’ll head to Tokyo for that last lead into the Olympics.”
So training as a canoeist would be, uh, canoeing? Sure, that’s one part, but as Jess explains, there’s so much more to it.
“I think it’s also been super positive for me to work on different areas and to spend a lot more uninterrupted time training on, in terms of training in the gym. Normally with all the travel, all the races, I don’t do super long gym blocks and this last year has given me the time to do that.” she explains. “I’ve really been able to get stronger in the gym, which is important for, for my paddling. That’s been a positive to come out of it. I think the most important thing of the last year has been to not be attached to any kind of ideal preparation because we’ve had to remain adaptable and change the plan so many times, so really not being tied to a set program has been important to me, and just being able to make the most of each session, do the best work I can each day and know that and be confident in the work that I have been able to do, as opposed to the things that I wasn’t able to do or that I should have tried to do, or whatever it might be because of that disrupted prep.”
In order to make the most of her training, Jess’ team reached out to Nam Baldwin, high performance coach at Elevation gym, to see how alternative methods of working out could boost her performance. Watch the pair at work below:
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