John Jackson insists he is still not 100 per cent fit – something that offers plenty of optimism as to what he might be able to achieve when fully recovered from Achilles surgery.
Jackson ruptured his Achilles in August but has defied medical experts to be ranked seventh in the four-man bobsleigh World Cup standings after three races this season.
Even more impressive was that British No.1 pilot Jackson’s latest outing in Lake Placid saw him claim silver and Britain’s first World Cup podium place since Sean Olsson in 1997.
The World Cup tour is currently on a break until January where there are four races across three events prior to the Olympic qualification period ending, the first a double in Winterberg.
The four-man bobsleigh event is scheduled to start at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics on February 22 with Jackson achieving everything has while admitting to still being in pain.
“There is still a bit of pain at the moment,” Jackson told the Wiltshire Times. “I definitely felt a bit in Park City and if you, look at the videos, you can see the pain in my face at the finish line.
“But it goes away soon afterwards and I think we’re all getting towards where we want to be for the Olympics.
“I’m definitely not at 100 per cent yet and it’s been important to keep having sessions to get the power back in the muscles.
“I’ll have a bit of down time around Christmas and then I’m off to Switzerland on Boxing Day to go and test some equipment that we may or may not be using at the Olympics.
“We’re back in training on December 30 and the next World Cup is in Winterberg in the first weekend of January.”
And Jackson, who was 0.07seconds shy of American winner Steven Holcomb in Lake Placid, revealed how he is the envy of his rivals on the World Cup tour.
“It’s a great end to the first half of the season and it’s fantastic for everyone involved with the team,” he added.
“We’ve had a couple of fourth or fifth-place finishes in the past, like at the World Championships this year, so we have been close to the podium but it’s different to actually being on it.
“I think the nicest thing was that I had other athletes coming up to me to say ‘we take our hats off to you because we couldn’t do what you do and couldn’t put ourselves through what you have’.”
© Sportsbeat 2013