Cyclist Ally Wollaston has had quite a 12 months; from the lows of missing out on the Commonwealth Games with a broken wrist to the highs of three gold medals at the recent World Track Cycling Nations Cup.
For every gold medal-winning performance, there are thousands of unseen laps around a velodrome but despite knowing she'd done the hard work, Wollaston even surprised herself in Jakarta.
“I knew I had good legs going into the competition but I didn't know what my legs were compared to the rest of the world,” Wollaston told 1News.
As it turns out, they were world class.
Two individual golds and another with the women's team pursuit – and all just a fortnight after winning the national road race title.
Making the run even more impressive is the fact that earlier in the month she had unexpected surgery on her wrist.
“I went in and got an opinion on Friday and the following Tuesday T was under the knife getting my metalware out,” she said.
“The surgeon told me it was supposed to be four weeks off the bike. I was a bit worried I wouldn't be able to race in Jakarta so to have the recovery like I did, I feel very fortunate.”
The wrist troubles began last year after the 22-year-old broke it in a crash in the inaugural women's Tour de France, ruining any chance of competing in a first Commonwealth Games a week later in Birmingham.
But new endurance coach Paul Manning said challenges aren't always a bad thing.
“If there's anything it's probably made her a better athlete in some respects.”
“We already knew how good she was but I think it's more the rest of the world have been able to stand up and see it, which is a good and a bad thing now - the next time she races they'll be following her around the track even more.”
Next time is next week in Cairo, but considering what Wollaston did with a challenging build up, imagine what she could pull off with a smooth one.
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