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For Jack Carlin the Tokyo Olympics feel like they were only yesterday, but three years on he will head to Paris with an older, wiser head on him.
Carlin helped Great Britain to silver in the men’s team sprint before picking up individual bronze in the pandemic-delayed Games in Japan.
The Scot said he went to Tokyo as “the kid” in Britain’s team alongside Sir Jason Kenny and Ryan Owens, with two-time Olympic champion Phil Hindes the travelling reserve.
This time around, Kenny is the coach and 27-year-old Carlin is the senior rider in a British group which includes Hamish Turnbull and Ed Lowe, with Joe Truman as the reserve – all three of them heading to their first Olympics.
“I think for the last one, I was the kid of the group,” Carlin said. “I’d never been to the Games. The other two that I was with had been – or the other three because Phil was there as well.
“This time I’m the only one that’s been. It’s a bit different and different expectations, I suppose, and keeping all our heads on. It’s very different to the cool, calm, and collected group that I had before – but not in a bad way. They’re all excitable pups, and I think that’s a good thing.
“I’m definitely going in with a wiser head on me. I think that there’s been a few crashes and a few mishaps on the way and your body feels every one of them. But I think the head’s good. The team I’m going with is strong and they’re excited. I think that’s the main thing.”
As he did in Tokyo, Carlin plans to ride in all three events in Paris – the team sprint, individual sprint and keirin. Nobody has yet come up with a way to beat the mighty Dutch squad led by 13-time world champion Harrie Lavreysen, but Carlin is clear on his and the British team’s goals.
“I think the fundamentals are you’re going there to compete and win,” he said. “I think if you asked any single rider that’s going to the Games, they’re probably going to say, ‘Yeah, I’m there because I want to medal and I want to compete and I want to get a gold’.
“That’s the aim for every rider, and I would be lying if it wasn’t mine as well.
“As long as I make sure that I’ve committed to everything I can do and make sure that I turn up on the day and I give the best I can do, then we’ll see what comes from that. But yes, the aim is to emulate my success before and then build on top of it.”
Like so many athletes who made their Olympic debuts in Tokyo, Paris offers the opportunity for something of a second chance at a first go.
With venues largely closed to the public in Japan and riders held inside a bubble amid the pandemic, it was not the Olympic experience they might have imagined. The hope is that Paris is very different.
“I think it was a different experience in Tokyo because we obviously had Covid, so we didn’t have the crowds there,” Carlin said.
“It was a bit underwhelming in some respects just because it wasn’t what I envisaged for my first Games, but this time around, obviously, you’ve got everyone, and it’s just down the road, so I think a lot of the athletes here will have their families coming out.
“I’ve got my friends and family coming out, and I’m super excited for them to be there.”
