ONE of Murray Buchan’s greatest strengths is his ability to perform under pressure. That is just as well as next week, he will compete on the biggest stage of all - the Winter Olympics.
Buchan is one of three half-pipe skiers selected as part of a 59-strong GB team that will be in Pyeongchang for the 2018 Winter Olympics, which begin on Friday.
This will be 26-year-old Buchan’s second Olympic Games having made his debut in Sochi four years ago but this time around things have, he says, been far more enjoyable. He has completed his final preparations for the Games in Switzerland before flying to South Korea on Wednesday. With qualification for Team GB in hand early in the season, there was none of the last minute panic that preceded his selection for the Sochi Games and that, he admits, has allowed him to enjoy the process much more.
“I’m really looking forward to the Games. I feeling like I’m skiing well and that I’m coming into form at just the right time,” said Buchan, whose competition begins on February 20th. “It’s been good qualifying process this time and I’ve not been under nearly as much pressure this time because I’m skiing a lot better, my runs have progressed and I’m a lot better both physically and mentally. And because I’ve been in Switzerland, I’ve not actually had much time to think too much about things or get worried about anything. I feel like everything has been a lot more relaxed than last time. Last time, I was worried about things that were outwith my control but this time I know that all I have to worry about is myself and that’s made it a really nice experience, not being stressed.”
There is plenty of scope for things to go wrong in half-pipe skiing, which sees competitors perform a series of tricks while going down a pipe, but a host of top-20 finishes in World Cup events over the past year have provided a significant confidence boost for Buchan, as did landing back-to-back double 900s for the first time in competition last month.
“It’s nice to feel like I’m at my best,” the Edinburgh skier said. “It’s the Olympic Games so you obviously want to perform better than you ever have done before so it’s good going in knowing that I have completed a run that I wanted to do. And to have done it in competition is a huge relief; to know I can do it and I have executed it in the past is very reassuring. Knowing I’ve done it is great because that means I can do it again.”
While Buchan says he thrives under pressure, he admits there is always an element of fear as he approaches a run. But that is, he insists, a good thing.
“I’ve always enjoyed pressure. I get nervous just like anyone else but I’ve always found that I perform a little bit better when the heat is on,” he said. “It’s still scary to do the tricks but I think that being scared is good because it helps to focus you. Being scared stops any complacency setting in and it encourages you to never be lazy.”
Buchan is reluctant to make any grand predictions about where he will finish in Pyeongchang but having come 17th at the Sochi Games, he is in no doubt that he would like to improve on that.
“In 2014, it was just about trying to qualify for the Games and go there and try to put down a good run,” he said. “Whereas this time, while I don’t have a specific placing in mind, I do want to make the final. That’s going to be a really tough ask because there’s so many good skiers but that’s definitely what I’d like to do. Most of all, I want to ski better than I did in 2014, get a better score and get a better placing. I’ve always managed to perform in competition and I don’t think last time, the pressure of being at the Olympics affected me negatively at all – if anything, it affected me in a positive way. It’s such a big stage and you really want to do the best you can and while that can get to some people, it just spurs me on.”
Being a half pipe skier affords Buchan few opportunities to compete in Asia and having only been to South Korea once before, he cannot wait to return. And past experience tells him that Friday’s Opening Ceremony is when it will really hit him that he is at the Olympic Games.
“I was in Korea last February for a test event and it was really cool – that was the first time I’d ever been to Asia,” he said.
“I’ll be at the Opening Ceremony on Friday and I think that’s when it really hits home that you’re at the Olympics. When you qualify, everyone tells you that it’s going to be a much bigger deal than you realise but you don’t really know what that means. At the Opening Ceremony in Sochi, we walked up a ramp into the stadium and that’s when it really sunk in that I was at the Olympics. But once the Opening Ceremony is over, you get a realisation that you’re there to do a job and you want to it to the very best of your ability.”
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