Margaux Hackett will represent New Zealand at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Photo / Photosport
Margaux Hackett will represent New Zealand at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Photo / Photosport
Margaux Hackett has opted for a different kind of preparation to most of her rivals ahead of her Winter Olympics debut in Beijing in February.
The 22-year-old free skier leaves New Zealand for Europe this week, less than 100 days out from the start of the Games.
Having qualified forBeijing and being named in the squad earlier this month, Hackett, who narrowly missed making the team for Pyeongchang four years ago, will be limited to two international competitions over the next few months.
She will base herself near Annecy in the French Alps where her mum lives and not cross the Atlantic for the North American competitions in December and January before the Olympics.
"I've decided for me it makes the most sense," Hackett said. "I just want to be focusing on training and being completely ready for Beijing so for me it makes sense to be based out of one place and not be flying around too much between continents.
Hackett, who will compete in the Big Air and Slopestyle competitions, has already had success on the world stage and finished eighth at the Freeski Slopestyle World Cup in Switzerland last season.
Margaux Hackett in action. Photo / Photosport
She was fifth in the big air and eighth in the Slopestyle at the 2020 X Games in Norway. So while Hackett knows she has the ability to mix it with the best, she realises she will have to go to another level to challenge for the podium in China.
"Yeah definitely, I've got a lot that I still need to be working on and I know what I have to do to close the gap between the level I'm at right now and the top level. But I'm really excited to get going," Hackett said.
Her name is of course synonymous with bungy jumping with her dad AJ Hackett the pioneer of the high adrenaline activity and famous around the world.
Margaux Hackett first did a bungy jump aged 4 and she learned to ski around the same time having been born and raised in France, hence the French spelling of her name.
She says dad AJ has had a big influence on her as a skier and as a person and "I get a lot more questions about him or comments about him in New Zealand".
Margaux Hackett and her family after being selected for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Photo / Photosport
Hackett says she loves all kinds of skiing but it's freeski where she has found her niche.
"Slopestyle and big air is everything where you go off jumps and you try and do your best tricks and land them nicely and basically for a slopestyle course you have probably five different features that include jumps and rails and the game is to get down to the bottom, do your best tricks and look good doing it as well," Hackett explained.
Hackett has drawn inspiration from snowboarder Zoi Sadowski-Synott and free skier Nico Porteous who both won bronze medals at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and have risen to the top of their sport.
"Hopefully I can ski my best and bring something home (a medal) to inspire more Kiwis to get in amongst snow sports in general and show them that anything is really possible."
Last season was challenging for Hackett after travelling and competing in a Covid consuming environment, but she feels more comfortable heading offshore now.
"I feel more confident now that I'm double vaccinated to be travelling because last year we had to really follow strict protocols and stick to our team bubble which meant socially distancing with our friends from other teams and not being able to go home as much as we would have liked to. So this year will be a little bit different, hopefully we can be a bit more social but still stick to the rules and make sure that everyone stays safe."
Despite being off the mountain at Cardrona for three weeks during the level 4 lockdown, Hackett says overall it was a good season in Wānaka. Being an Olympian, she has added support and has attracted the interest of Snowvision, a charitable trust that supports New Zealand snow sports.
"It's going to be awesome to be involved with them. They support athlete excellence in snow sports, and I think they will be really helpful, and I am stoked to be working with them from now on. I think it's really special what they're doing for athletes and sports people in general."
Hackett knows she can do all the training in the world, but the mental side of the sport will be crucial in determining how she performs in Beijing.
"We actually did a mock comp a couple of weeks ago where we were like okay, we have one hour to do training and then we're acting like we have only two runs to do our best. I think that's really important to keep that in mind because it's so different when you just do it whenever you want, but we knew we're told 'this is it you are in comp mode', it's really good for your mental skills. We know what we have to do in terms of our tracks we've done that before and it's just being able to do them when it counts."
