Canadian Brianne Theisen-Eaton 'disappointed' with silver medal at worlds
Humboldt, Sask. native won silver medal in heptathlon at the track and field world championships
A lot of people would be thrilled to know they're the second-best in the world at anything. For Brianne Theisen-Eaton, second-best is a disappointment.
The Humboldt, Sask. native won a silver medal in heptathlon at the 2015 track and field world championships.
Before the championships started, Theisen-Eaton said anything but gold would be disappointing. Even a few days later, her feelings haven't changed.
"I'm disappointed," she told CBC News from Beijing. "I went in as the favourite and I didn't compete how I had to to win gold. And that was my own fault. So I am disappointed with it, but there are some lessons that I have learned from it that hopefully I can take into next year."
She said she didn't compete mentally well enough to bring home the gold.
"I went in thinking that I had to do something different than I had already done this year — I had to be just a better athlete than I am," she said. "And that wasn't true. I mean, I scored 250 points less than I already have this year, and had I just done the same thing I had done already previously this year, it would have got me a gold."
While competing in the javelin portion of the heptathlon, she suffered an injury to her groin and abdominal areas, and wasn't able to make her last two throws. But she's not using the injury as an excuse.
"The problem started well before that," she said. "It started in the second event when I kind of started getting uptight and nervous — just tense and lost my rhythm."
Growing up and growing mentally
With the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio approaching, Theisen-Eaton said she's learning how much of a role the mental side of competing impacts performance.
"I didn't really understand it when I was younger," she said. "I'm starting to get it a little bit more now. I think the biggest thing is I've never gone into a world championship or any major meet as the favourite. People always say it's a lot easier to compete as the underdog and that's definitely true.
"The respect I have for the people who are consistently on top and are able to perform under that, it's not easy. I think that's a big thing that I have to work on."
The heptathlon disappointment may linger, but Theisen-Eaton still has a chance to win at least one gold medal. She competes in the women's high jump and javelin later this week.
"Those are the two events that I really want to work on next year and make sure they're solid," she said. "If I can get those figured out and just down where I don't have any issues with them in any competition, that will be a huge strength for me going into Rio next year and hopefully getting that gold."