A season of firsts: Dominika Jamnicky reflects on her 2016 racing

This season presented a lot of first time experiences for me, including going through the Olympic qualification process, World Relay Championships and WTS Elite Grand Final. The goal over the past four years was to develop fundamental skills as a triathlete and learn to execute in a process-driven manner. I still have lots to learn over the next quad and overall my season was a humbling experience. It was an honour to be granted opportunities to represent my country in various WTS and world championship events all over the world. As I reflect on the season I am grateful to all the people that are behind me. I am fortunate to have the incredible support from my coach, family, boyfriend, friends and sponsors. I’m lucky to have built good relationships with companies like Devinci Cycles, CurrexSole, Hive Swimwear, and Xact Nutrition.

My best race of the season was my 30th place in the WTS in Yokohama. It was the last WTS race in the Olympic qualification period and one of the most competitive of the year. This was the last chance for most countries to qualify Olympic births for Rio 2016 and their own spot for their country. This was my third WTS I had ever raced, but my process was spot on. Not only did I execute a great race process so did my teammates. Amélie Kretz’s eighth place guaranteed Canada a third birth for the Rio Olympics. Sarah-Anne Brault finished in the top 15 as a breakthrough seasonal performance. Kirsten Sweetland and Paula Findlay both showed perseverance from their injuries and finished the day with courageous performances. All in all, it was a good day for our women. I remember in the athlete lounge after the race we huddled together and hugged each other and started chanting Canada! To be a part of that was an inspiring moment.

Over the next four years the goal is to continue to grow my capacity to learn and develop into the best version of myself. I will work closely with my coach Craig Taylor and my teammates to improve my process of competing at the world cup and WTS level. There will be opportunies to represent Canada on a home stage at the Edmonton and Montreal WTS events in 2017. I would love to compete and represent Triathlon Canada at these events. I’d also like to complete at future elite world championships, the 2018 Commonwealth Games, 2019 Pan American Games and 2020 Olympics. Canada’s depth on both the women’s and men’s side will make it competitive. I will be happy to be in the quest for the events and hopefully I can contribute to Canada’s success.

I love spending time outdoors. Anything from hiking to mountain biking to camping. This year I planned a hiking trip with my boyfriend along part of the Bruce Trail. It was a really good bonding experience and although it didn’t pan out to plan we had a great time. I also got to know the trails in the Guelph area on my new mountain bike. It’s a good way to increase your technical ability on bike and a warmer option when the fall days start to get cooler.

The next few months will be spent in the pool and trails of Guelph! I will devote my time to improve my swimming working on specific technical elements to help me become more efficient in the water. Along with the pool time, I’ll be working to build some good run mileage and increase my threshold capacity. I believe that working on these skills will help me to continue to develop in the sport.