The scary thing is that Mallory Franklin wasn’t even going for medals at the European Canoe Slalom Championships.
Franklin won Olympic silver at Tokyo 2020, adding to her five world and six European titles, the culmination of a self-doubt defying decade under long-time coach Craig Morris.
It certainly wasn’t broke but over the winter she opted for change, switching to working with two-time Olympic silver medallist Richard Hounslow.
Having competed and trained in such a stable set-up for so long, Franklin seemed to pour cold water on expectations for podiums in 2022.
“I’d love to be medalling again, but realistically it’s about building that relationship,” she said in a pre-season press call. “I don’t know exactly how that’s going to go.”
Early evidence suggests it's going really rather well - at least on the strength of her first major Championship working with Hounslow - where she won gold, silver and bronze.
"My mind is boggled by what just happened," Franklin posted on Instagram.
Having spent more time in the kayak over the winter, Franklin scythed through the European C1 field in Liptovsky.
On a tricky and very technical course, she qualified for the final a full four seconds quicker than the next-fastest paddler.
French Olympian Marjorie Delassus set a tough time of 115.07 to beat for gold but the Windsor star green-lighted from the off, 1.86 seconds up by the first split, holding that lead to take gold.
The addition of harum-scarum extreme slalom to the Paris 2024 programme has piqued the interest of the best all-round paddlers on the planet.
Franklin is certainly one of them, showing her prowess off the ramp and ice-cool composure to emerge with European silver.
Extreme races feature a mandatory eskimo roll midway through the course but there was nothing planned about Franklin’s capsizing seconds into Sunday’s final.
She somehow dragged herself back into silver medal position thanks to two superb upstream gates.
“You’re never out of it (in extreme),” she said. “With people faulting or making little mistakes I think it’s worth fighting right until the very end.”
K1 team bronze, alongside Olympian Kimberley Woods and rookie Megan Hamer-Evans, made it a perfect start to the next stage of Franklin’s career.
Explaining the decision to change coach, she said: "Having worked with Craig and had the success I had with him, I think it probably surprised people that I moved away from that.
"Our training group with Kim and I was a very successful group, but it meant there were a lot of athletes, with both of us doubling up.
"It's five athletes at every race, and there was a lot of time there. I just felt like I wanted to have more time with my coach.
"I'm experiencing and trying to build a new relationship and get to that same level of being able to perform, the autonomy and freedom on race day.
"For me, this year is a little bit more about building that relationship and getting to a really good point with it.
"It's a bit of a crazy one and an odd change, but I feel like I needed it at this point."
Sportsbeat 2022