Meet Taylah O'Neill. Taylah started competing internationally in 2009 and first joined the World Cup circuit in January 2010. At the 2012 Junior World Championships, O’Neill came in fifth and was focussed on Sochi. Taylah made her Olympic debut at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics at just 19 years old. She progressed from the qualification round into the first round of finals alongside her teammates Britt Cox and Perisher's Nicole Parks. Taylah's run of 18.18 in the first round of finals saw her finish 16th overall at Sochi. While she missed the medal final, she finished within her goal of making the top-20.
We sat down with Taylah to learn more about her career, and also her journey to Olympic success...
Tell us about your Olympic experience
The Olympics were incredible. It was such an amazing experience to be at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics with the Australian Team, both competing in my event, Freestyle Moguls and cheering on the other team members. The Olympics is something I have dreamed of my entire career, so it really was a dream come true to be able to compete for Australia.
Tell us how you got into Moguls
I started the Perisher Winter Sports Club program in 2003 when I was 8 years old. The Development Program was a great way for me to experience all the different disciplines including Slopestyle, Moguls and Alpine. After my first year of PWSC, I transitioned to the moguls competition group as this was my favourite discipline and what I excelled in, and from there I progressed further in the sport.
What are some of the best memories you’ve got of Winter Sports Club?
My first year in Winter Sports Club was probably my favourite. I have such great memories skiing around the resort with my coaches and friends, going on the trampoline in the Skitube building on bad weather days, building jumps off the side of Brumby T-bar and creating friendships with people who I still train and compete with today such as Nicole Parks and Matthew Graham.
What are some of the most unexpected things involved with Moguls?
Something I never expected I’d be doing so much of is travelling. As Australia only has snow that we can train on for about 3 months of the year, we need to travel overseas multiple times for various camps. While this aspect of training and competing was unexpected to me at first, it is now one of my favourite parts about the sport. I have travelled all over the world and have created friendships with people from lots of different countries.
What goes through you’re head in the lead up to a competition?
I try and keep a pretty level head around competition time. I try not to overthink what I need to do, as that's what generally makes me nervous. Before a competition I try to stay present and just focus on what needs to be done in order for me to compete at my best.
What’s a major challenge or hurdle you’ve overcome in your career?
Injury has been my biggest challenge throughout my career. Some of my injuries so far include stress fractures in the left side of my back in 2010, breaking three bones in the right side of my back in 2013, and most recently tearing my ACL and Meniscus in August 2014.
What was your breakout moment when you realised you wanted to ski moguls for a living?
The breakout moment for me was probably at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino. I flew to Italy with my family to watch the mogul and figure skating events and I immediately fell in love with the idea of elite sport and the whole atmosphere of the Olympic Games.
Recovering from injury is a long process, how do you stay focused on the big goal?
I try and stay present and focused on the small things, I've learnt there's no point rushing through the rehab process. If you do not complete your rehab in the correct way, or you try and rush through it and jump ahead, there is a much higher chance of re-injuring yourself later on. By focusing on the small things, I know that in the future and once I am back on snow I will be much stronger, and a lot more capable of reaching my goals post injury.
Who did you look up to when you were going through Winter Sports Club?
When I was going through Winter Sports Club I really looked up to my brother Dylan. He used to ski Moguls when he was younger and was also a judge at Interschool’s and at the Australian Nationals, so he knew a lot about the sport. I loved to go out skiing with him on days off and after training as he always pushed me to ski faster and go bigger off the jumps.
In the summer months, how do you maintain focus and motivation for a winter sport?
We don’t get much time off in our sport because as soon as the domestic season is over we travel to the Northern Hemisphere season. We generally spend our summer months in America and Europe - there is always another competition or training event to look forward to and keep me focused.
Leaving your family and friends to train and compete overseas, tell us what that’s like…
During my first few years on the team I found it quite difficult having to leave home for 3 months at a time in order to train and compete overseas. I was only young and experienced a crazy amount of homesickness. As I have got older I have begun to enjoy going overseas more and now look forward to the trip every year.
Not only is this due to my developed maturity levels, but also because of the friendships I have formed with my teammates and other mogul skiers from overseas. It has started to feel more like home travelling and spending time with these people.
Studying at the same time as competing and training, how does it all fit in?
I am currently at the University of New South Wales studying a Bachelor of Media in Public Relations and Advertising. UNSW is extremely supportive of my sporting career and help me with my timetable and study when need be.
The Elite Athlete Program at UNSW is incredible and allows me to continue with my studies while training and competing overseas as well as during our winter at Perisher.
When you’re not in training, where do you love to ski with friends?
I love to ski through the trees and in the powder with my friends when I am not training. I have found that it is during this time, when you are skiing with friends, when you really fall in love with sport all over again.
What’s a run you have to do twice?
There are 2 runs in Perisher that are by far my favourites. The first is Rock Garden in Blue Cow and the second is Interceptor in Perisher. Both of these runs are incredible to ski on a powder day with friends, I love jumping off the rocks and skiing through the trees.
You’ve travelled a fair bit as a result of your career, where’s your favourite location and why?
My two favourite places would have to be Steamboat Springs in Colorado and Perisher. I learned to ski at Perisher with my family from the age of 2 so each year when I come back it really feels like home.
I have great memories skiing Mt. Perisher with my family and I love going back to these runs every year on days off. Steamboat Springs is also a place I travelled too a lot with my family while I was growing up. The resort not only has great terrain, from tree skiing to free bumps, but it is also such a great ski town with an incredibly welcoming little village and town at the base of the mountain.
If you weren’t an Olympic Mogul skier, what would you be doing?
Being an Olympic Mogul Skier is something I have wanted for such a long time now that I can’t imagine doing anything else!
What’s some advice you can give young athletes who want to be where you are now?
I think an important thing with any elite sport is to make sure you are always having fun and have a clear idea of what you want out of the sport.
For me, when everything starts getting too serious I don’t ski to my ability and so I always try and find the positives in things, stay happy and always have fun in what I am doing. When I am not having fun and I am no longer enjoying what I am doing, I take a step back and think to myself, what can I do to make me love this again.
What was the best advice you were given, and who was it from?
David Morris – Not to overthink it, especially during competition. You know you’ve done the training, and so you know what is needed in order to compete at your best and get a good result. All you need to do is put down a run and what will be will be.