A few short months ago, Natasha Hansen was not sure if she would ever cycle competitively again.
Now the champion sprinter is targeting a medal — or medals — at the 2020 Olympics.
Hansen burst into international prominence when she won two silver medals and a bronze at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in March, but it was far from an overnight breakthrough.
After competing with distinction for her country in the 2011 Oceania championships in Australia while working — as an air traffic controller, no less — and training in Invercargill the then 21-year-old was selected for the 2012 London Olympics in the keirin and the sprint.
It was difficult for her to maintain cycling as her be-all and end-all, however, when her best friend died of cancer. She returned to New Zealand from training overseas for the funeral but still managed to finish 12th in the sprint and 11th in the keirin in London.
After some time off from the sport she moved to the New Zealand team’s base in Cambridge in 2015 determined again to be the best she could be.
Success on the world cup circuit followed, as did participation in the Rio Olympics, where she again competed creditably in the individual and team sprint. Although determined to go to a new level, she suffered chronic back pain last year. Setback followed setback and there were no real answers to what was contributing to her relapses. Hansen gives credit to a strong support team of her coach, physios and strength and conditioning trainers who pushed to get answers and had the knowledge and expertise to help her begin rebuilding her body.
She explains: "I had a minor tear in the disc that kept getting irritated, so it was a matter of developing the right training programme to eliminate any aggravation to let this mend whilst at the same time developing all the strength I had lost.
"From January this year I began an intensive rehab block and by March I was starting to feel the benefits. A little too early to be going fast, so the world champs weren’t the greatest."
And yet after six weeks of consistent training again.
"I felt the strongest and fittest I’d been in a long time".
With that confidence in her body came the mental confidence she could produce results. And how.
Since her success in the Commonwealth Games she has been racing and training in Asia — firstly, the keirin circuit in Japan, an invitational-only professional race circuit in which they invite selected international male and female riders each year to compete against Japan’s best.
Hansen said it was a unique experience.
"You are put in lockdown for a few days during racing, with no communication with the outside world and they proceed to bet on you like racehorses.
"Being in Japan, it was also an opportunity to train and race on the Tokyo Olympic velodrome". Following that, she trained in China with former spring coach Anthony Peden — yes, that coach — alongside the likes of Olympic champ Tianshi Zhong.
"I think it has given me a great foundation to start this season well and was a good transition period before working with our new coach, Rene Wolff, which I am really looking forward to doing."
So now begins the build-up to Tokyo in 2020. Hansen says the way to meet her goal of a medal is to push herself to her limits to see what she can get out of herself physically over the next two years.
There is one thing that will make this Olympics easier — she won’t have to help planes land during the build-up.
"Being able to have an optimal two-year lead-in is exciting (and something I haven’t given myself the opportunity to do in the past as I still worked as an air traffic controller before London and Rio) and realistic given the fact that I am still getting stronger and faster and obviously pretty mature as an athlete."
Hansen says at 28 she is a "fitter, stronger and mentally tougher" sprinter now.
"I have learned so much since I first joined the team, with the most important learning being that the top cyclists win because they never look for any excuses and are willing to make more sacrifices that everyone else. I think that many young athletes with raw talent think they can cut corners, and I certainly cut a few earlier in my career."
As for what Hansen does outside cycling, she says she really enjoys cooking and baking, although, of course, "being pretty strict on what I cook (and bake) because maintaining a good power to weight ratio is so important as a sprint athlete."
And talents apart from cycling: "Shopping".
