2019 was a tough year for trampolinist Dylan Schmidt.
Side-lined with injuries for months at a time the 23-year-old was recovered and set to put in a performance to remember at World Championships in December when he hit another speed bump.
“I was feeling the best I’d felt all year and training was going really well. Unfortunately, during my 30 second pre competition warmup I jarred the knee I’d had surgery on and it was sore and didn’t feel quite right,” said Schmidt.
The Aucklander had already qualified for the final but was unable to jump to his usually high standards.
“A top eight placing would have automatically qualified me for Tokyo 2020 but I ended up in 12th with not my best performance.
“I know I can hit scores that make the top eight quite comfortably so I was disappointed but I’m not dwelling on it too much.”
Instead Schmidt’s using the World Champs experience as an opportunity to learn from his mistakes and be better prepared to perform when it counts.
“In trampolining you’ve only got one chance and you’ve got to be pretty accurate when you compete. You’ve got to bring it on the day, so I’ve got to learn from that and make sure I can perform no matter the circumstances.”
Currently ranked fourth equal in the world Schmidt feels positive about making it to his second Olympic Games.
He’s already earned a solid number of Olympic qualification points and will be competing at World Cups around the globe before Tokyo 2020.
“I did well in 2019 making the finals in each World Cup after coming back from an injury break. I’ve got good ranking points towards Tokyo so I’m in a good place to qualify and I’m looking forward to another busy year.”
Competing at the Rio Olympic Games at just 19-years-old, Schmidt exceeded expectations to place seventh overall.
At Tokyo he’s aiming higher and is determined to be on the podium.
“I want to win but I think setting my sights on a medal, it’d be pretty cool to achieve that.
“With the scores I can hit I know I’m capable of it, I just need to do it on the day.”