Skeleton athlete Freya Tarbit put in a herculean effort in Austria last week to clinch an overall gold medal in the Europa Cup.
The 22 year-old winter sports star from Derby tore her hamstring during the Junior World Championships which forced her to miss a couple of key events. However, Tarbit recovered enough just in time to complete her Europa Cup campaign and soldiered on to claim a silver medal in the final race of the calendar to secure an overall gold medal in the competition.
Freya’s Europa Cup triumph is the latest indicator that the Derbyshire athlete has a big future ahead of her and is a sportsperson to definitely keep an eye on for further successes.
Tarbit is still coming to terms with the biggest achievement so far in her skeleton career:
“Just to hear you introduce me as the Europa Cup champion sounds so cool! I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet. I can’t believe it. I’m really prod of the fact that it’s a testament to my consistency this year. I don’t want to be someone who just does well in one race and then can’t really perform throughout and back it up. To be the overall champion; I’m just so happy!”
Freya’s gold medal is all the more impressive considering her victory was secured when not 100% fit following the injury that almost derailed an extremely encouraging and positive winter season:
“I tore my hamstring during the Junior World Championships. The Junior Worlds consists of two runs; on the first push, I felt it go. I just hoped that maybe the injury wasn’t that bad, but I knew something just wasn’t right and it was very painful to just walk around. I couldn’t warm up for my second run because of the pain. I had to mentally prepare myself because I knew it was going to hurt a lot to do the push at the start for the final run. I had to push through the pain. When it was all over, I had an MRI and that showed that I had torn my hamstring. Unfortunately, this injury meant that I didn’t just miss my sole Intercontinental Cup race this season. I had also been selected to compete for Britain at the Senior World Championships in St Moritz. But this was scheduled only a week after the hamstring tear, so there was no way I could make that. For my scheduled Intercontinental Cup race, my rehab was scheduled just too close to the event for me to be able to participate in it.”
Freya’s injury meant that she had no choice but to take on a rather unorthodox approach to the final Europa Cup race of the season with so much at stake:
“This was a really weird one because I’m still rehabbing my hamstring tear so I wasn’t allowed to push fast. I’d never been in that position before where I obviously wanted to do well but I also wasn’t able to go hard on the push at the start of my run. So that was really tricky for me to manage because I had to physically stop myself from pushing as hard as I possibly could. Because of that, I knew that my drive-in on the track would have to be spot on, especially for a track like the one at Igls as it’s a track where the push carries and it’s a pushers track, so I knew I couldn’t make any mistakes. It was such a weird one; not trying but wanting to try!”
The 2022/23 winter sports season has been one to remember for Tarbit. Aside from Europa Cup glory, Freya also competed in her debut World Cup race which saw her compete against the very best athletes in the sport at the highest level. A top ten finish in her sole World Cup race is another indicator of how much potential Tarbit has:
“It was incredible and it’s definitely motivated me to want to get back to that level as soon as possible. It was so much fun. I didn’t put any pressure on myself for that race as it was my debut at World Cup level. I just wanted to go there and lay down the best performance that I could – so to finish seventh at the highest level that there is in the sport – I just couldn’t believe it, I was so happy!”
Another highlight of Tarbit’s 2022/23 season was the bronze medal she won in January at the Junior World Championships in Germany:
“I was so proud. I finished tenth at last season’s Junior World Championships; so, to see the progress 12 months on is something I’m really proud of. It showed that all the hard work has paid off. It was my last ever Junior World Championships as well because I will be classed as a senior athlete from next season going forwards – I didn’t want to come away without ever medalling at that event, so I’m really glad that I managed to put my best foot forward for that event. I think those two runs I did at that competition were the best runs I’ve ever managed at that track.”
Overall, Freya is delighted with how her 2022/23 season has gone and has learnt a huge amount about herself going forwards:
“I’m so pleased. It’s just a testament to the fact that hard work will pay off. What I’ve taken away the most from this season is the power of your mindset. If your mindset is right, then you can achieve anything. I’ve got this little thing I do before every race where five minutes before I head out to the track, I just sit there and tell myself that I can do it and that I know what I’m doing. I’ve learnt that your mindset is the most powerful thing and it’s the most powerful tool that any athlete can have.”
As Freya goes on to explain to explain though, her season isn’t actually over just yet and some key events are still on the horizon:
“I’ve still got a lot to do for the end of this season! I’ve got my selection races next week in Austria. Following that, I have a training camp to attend in France. Then at the end of March, I’m flying over to The United States to compete in the North American Cup at Lake Placid in New York. I’m really excited about that as I’ve never competed on an American track before, so that will be really cool.”
Naturally, Tarbit now has high hopes and big aims for the 2023/24 season once that begins in October:
“I really want to try and get back to competing in more World Cup races next season. That’s my goal. In order to do that, I need to perform well in the selection races. The first one is next week and then the second is at the very start of next season in October. These will determine what circuit you will be placed to compete in. So my aim right now is to perform well in those, so that I can compete in as many World Cup races as possible for next season.”
The next Winter Olympics takes place in Italy in 2026. While skeleton’s biggest competition is still a while away, the preparation is already very much underway as Freya Tarbit attempts to cement herself as part of the sport’s elite athletes and qualify for her first ever Winter Olympic Games.
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