Olympic high jump champion Hamish Kerr admits it is time for him to move on from his Paris success.
Kerr will compete this weekend for the first time since winning gold in Paris in August.
The 28-year-old will be the star attraction at the historic Cooks Classic meeting in Whanganui.
Kerr spent a lot of time enjoying his success from 2024 which also included a World Indoor title.
"I'm pretty strong at the moment but also a little bit heavy," Kerr told RNZ.
"Obviously I spent a lot of time celebrating my achievements from last year but it's about getting back on the horse now and ready for what is also shaping up to be a really cool 2025 with the World Championships."
Kerr took three months off training from the Olympic final. He started with some basic training in November before cranking it up in December. That has allowed him to refresh mentally.
"For my team it was about how do you reframe what you do every day and getting out of bed when you have won the pinnacle event of your sport.
"The focus for me this year is just going back to the basics of what I love about the sport and why I got into it in the first place.
"I'm in a really happy place and just enjoying the freedom of jumping."
However that doesn't mean we should expect too much from him this weekend.
"I haven't competed this early in a training block before, I've only been back jumping properly for about three weeks but there is still an expectation that I'm going to be able to jump well."
Kerr's Olympic gold medal has been a constant companion since returning from the games and thousands of people have seen and touched it.
"It's starting to get hidden away now just with the new year and an indication of what I've got coming up.
"Not so much that I want to move on but to start focussing on something else.
"I've shown a lot of people and it was awesome to take it on a bit of a tour but I think from now on I'll be keeping it at home."
Kerr will also compete in an international meeting in Christchurch in February before competing at the national championships in Dunedin in March.
However his focus this year is the World (outdoor) Championships in Tokyo in September, the one title he hasn't claimed.
Paris Paralympic champion sprinter Anna Grimaldi will also compete at Cooks Gardens on Saturday along with other Olympians Sam Tanner, Lauren Bruce and Ethan Olivier.
