Aussie high jumper Nicola McDermott’s secret weapon

The world championships four years ago were a disappointment for Nicola McDermott, but they may have provided the catalyst for her Olympic assault.

New training techniques have transformed Nicola McDermott into a medal contender.

The world championships in London four years ago were a bitter disappointment for Nicola McDermott, but they may have inadvertently and fortuitously provided the catalyst for her assault on Olympic gold.

At that event, McDermott’s coach Matt Horsnell met Italian strength and conditioning guru Carlo Buzzichelli, forging a relationship that has helped transform McDermott into one of the favourites for the gold medal in Tokyo.

Buzzichelli is a disciple of Tudor Bompa, a sports science legend and the pioneer of periodisation training, the groundbreaking theories that some claim have revolutionised Western training methods.

Horsnell and Buzzichelli promised to remain in touch and since that chance meeting in London, have exchanged notes and ideas.

Horsnell has provided Buzzichelli with high jump training tips. Buzzichelli has returned the favour by suggesting ways McDermott could hone her training to become a more efficient athlete.

The results have been clear for all to see. Earlier this year, McDermott became the first Australian woman to clear 2m at the national championships and she heads into the finals of the high jump on Saturday as second favourite behind Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh.

“I have a friend named Carlo Buzzichelli, who is a bit of a God as far as strength and conditioning and power stuff,” Horsnell said.

“He is like a mentor for me and gives me advice, little things he says to try. He has worked with the Cuban triple jumpers who broke all the records. He has worked with other athletes around the world.

“He is a great guy who we got to know. A couple of years ago when we had the lockdown situation — we could do one-on-one training at the time — we were talking to him about her training.

“He said break it down into a strength block that is shorter — six to eight weeks. Then convert that to a power block of another six weeks.

“Then back into a strength block. So it was like a cyclical effect over a period of building strength and power.

“For Nicola, she has blossomed out of that and come out so much stronger and more powerful. It converted straight away when she started jumping again.

“We also changed the way she did comps. We would only do three comps and then go back and do a strength block, then do another block of comps.

“We didn’t do those extra comps. In previous years she probably did too many comps. Some athletes like to do a lot of comps and they come off it well.

“Others you have to work out what suits them, how they work with their strength and power, and how it affects them.

“That is how we have addressed this build-up to the Olympics. That’s been the big change — we know what works.”

McDermott will be joined in the high jump finals by compatriot Eleanor Patterson. The pair have had their own competition within a competition in recent years.

Earlier this year, The Australian documented the pair’s quest to break the magical two metre barrier leading into the national championships, only for Patterson to withdraw at the 11th hour with a shin problem.

She rested, recovered and returned to competition in Europe with some strong performances. McDermott, meanwhile, has gone from strength to strength.

The pair are contrasting characters on the track. Patterson can come across as intense, quiet and brooding. McDermott is loud and effusive.

She claps her hands and screams before she begins her approach. She is deeply religious and a deep thinker, to the point that Horsnell devised a strategy where she would take notes in a notepad between attempts to occupy her mind and ensure she wasn’t distracted by her rivals.

She has taken to writing gospel passages on her social media feeds. After she qualified for the final, she quoted Psalms 139:16. “Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”

Just for good measure, she added: “Today was the reality of a childhood dream. I can’t thank everyone enough who has made this possible. Thank you Jesus for placing a dream in me big enough to impact nations.”

She has been with Horsnell for more than a decade, her coach predicting from the very start that she had the potential to become one of the best high jumpers in the world. She may yet reach the very peak.

“I saw her when she was 11 going on 12,” Horsnell said. “I looked at her and saw that she had the perfect physique and build. Even then she was pretty weak and not very strong, totally unco.

“It was funny. Even at that stage I said to her parents that Nicola ticks all the boxes, if she sticks at this and develops she could be one of the best high jumpers Australia has ever seen.”

McDermott has more than met that prediction. Time to conquer the world.