Jamie Nicholls had something of a season to forget last winter but fully fit once again, the snowboarder is champing at the bit to have a memorable 2016.
After a 2013-14 season which included him finishing sixth in the men’s slopestyle final at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, the following year was something of a letdown for Nicholls.
By his own admission he struggled to find the motivation to put in the necessary hours of training with the next Olympics still three years away.
Then over the summer he suffered a knee injury which required surgery, although he is now back on the board.
The 22-year-old believes that a break from the sport may have worked to his advantage as he is now desperate to get back on the snow and put last year behind him.
“There weren’t really any highlights – I had a pretty bad season last year. I wasn’t feeling 100 per cent mentally,” explained Nicholls.
“I wasn’t really prepared for a lot of stuff. I just think that after the Olympics, I didn’t want to concentrate on training so much.
“I had a break and then coming back this winter, I’m feeling ready to go and ready to get back on it again.
“I think last year was more of a season to get back into the swing of things. This winter is going to be a lot busier.
“I’ve just come back from a knee injury as well, which sucks. I hurt my knee in the summer and had knee surgery, so I’m literally just getting back on my board now and I’ve got a really busy winter ahead.
“I was off for 18 weeks – when I was off and I wasn’t riding, I was so stressed. I just wanted to go snowboarding again.
“That is good because you get that drive to go back at it again and you get excited because you’ve not been back on your board in ages.
“I’m really motivated for this winter and I can’t wait to get started and hopefully I do well.”
While the early part of this season is about getting back into the swing of things and feeling comfortable doing his competition tricks once again, Nicholls is targeting tangible results as the campaign wears on.
He is also excited about being involved in a couple of filming projects going on throughout the course of the year.
And the Yorkshire snowboarder concedes that there won’t be a huge amount of down time as he gets pulled in various directions.
“I’ve got seven contests scheduled and I’ve got filming as well, so it’s going to be a busy one,” added Nicholls.
“My aims for the coming season are going to be doing well in contests and I’ll also bring out an amazing video part which I’m filming all year this year too.
“So I’m going to be busy doing that. I’m working on new projects as well to bring out, like Hemel Run, a few creative projects that have never been done before.
“My head’s just ticking and ticking with ideas, thinking what can I do. It’s getting there.”
Sportsbeat 2015