Jamie Nicholls has had plenty of time to reflect on his Sochi exploits from nine months ago but the snowboarder insists it will be act first, think later when it comes to attacking the slopes this season.
Nicholls marked his Games debut in style in February, finishing sixth in the first ever snowboard slopestyle Winter Olympics final.
It was the highest-ever finish for a British man in a snowsport event at an Olympic Games before James Woods then placed fifth in the men's ski slopestyle final – although it could have been even better for Nicholls.
The 21-year-old finished fourth in his heat to qualify directly for the final before an impressive first run – described by Nicholls as the best of his life – left him in the silver medal position.
However he was unable to maintain that form on his second run, getting off to a slow start, which left him having to settle for his better score of 85.50 from his first run.
And while buoyed by his performances, Nicholls believes keeping a cool head on the slopes is crucial to getting among the medals.
“The one thing I’ll take away from Sochi is on my second run I didn’t do too well and that’s because I didn’t think in the moment,” said Nicholls, who aims to take this year to focus more on filming, projects and tricks before continuing on the road to Pyeongchang 2018.
“I was thinking too much about what trick I was going to do at the end and that’s a mistake I made and I’m going to make sure I don’t do that again.
“I’m still young so it’s a learning curve, but I’ll definitely make sure I learn from that and longer term I want to reach another Olympics and do better than sixth.
“It’s realistic to medal one day, it could have been anyone’s on that day and it’s the same in all of the competitions, you’ve got to land your moves and see how it goes on the day.
“You can be the best snowboarder in the world but if you make a mistake it’s all over and that’s the competiveness of sport at the highest level.”
© Sportsbeat 2014