Ask any pro, in any sport, and they’ll tell you that racing is as much about mental strength as it is about physical ability. It’s a well-proven argument at this point but one that keeps proving true. For Jenn Jackson, a mental shift helped lead to a third elite national championship and a new perspective on the rest of the season.
Jackson has, by all accounts, been having an incredible 2024 season. At both the opening World Cup rounds in Brazil, she was fighting alongside the world’s best. While those efforts didn’t lead to results, in part due to mechanical misfortune, this season’s seen the Canadian national champ not only find footing, but look comfortable on the front of a World Cup race.
“Up til Crans Montana, I’d ridden more laps inside the Top 12 than outside this year,” Jackson says, adding, “Short tracks have been awesome, I’ve been first or second row in more than half the races, and haven’t missed out on a call-up this season.”
But, without the finish line results to reflect those impressive gains, Jackson missed out on one of her major goals this year: Olympic selection. She calls the non-selection “disappointing, but not surprising,” adding “I know the criteria, but I did have some hope that my 12th in MSA would be considered conditionally especially after how well I raced at the start of the season in Brazil.”
Chasing championships in Kentville
That setback saw the Liv Factory Racing rider land on the east coast for nationals at Kentville, N.S., on the back foot despite being in the best form of her career.
“By the time we got to Nationals I was mostly in “let’s get the job done” mode,” Jackson admits. “After last year, I felt like it was my race to lose, and had a lot of negative thoughts in the week leading up about all the ways things could not go my way.”
The amazing thing about the mental side of the sport, though, is that sometimes all it takes is one converstion to shift perspective, and find speed.
“I had a really good talk with my brother, who helped me reframe things to see that there’s a million ways things can go wrong,” sahs Jackson, “But I already have the upper hand if I believe I’m the strongest and the other girls need to get lucky or do something special to come out ahead – that I just need to show up, be calm and be confident.”
Jackson carried that confidence to a win in the elite women’s short track championships and, then, earning the second of…
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