Anna’s clouds have a beautiful silver lining

It wasn’t until six months ago that Anna Taylor felt the dark clouds had finally lifted.
The 33-year-old Cambridge athlete had always been battling interruptions to her sporting career.
First, as a young rower, a frightening cancer; then a hip labral tear; and then the acute disc prolapse in her spine that caused permanent weakness in her legs.
Finding a new competitive outlet as a Para cyclist, there was a serious concussion, then long Covid, and a range of other health challenges that were speed bumps in her training. 
“With setback after setback it’s easy to question, ‘Why do you keep going? Maybe this isn’t for you,’” Taylor says. “But I want to make sure I’m not making excuses for not going after a dream. 
“I have an honest conversation with myself. Would stopping make my life better? Would it resolve my problems? If the answer is no, then giving up is not an acceptable route for me.”
With her ‘no excuses’ mentality, the steely-willed athlete got back on the bike in pursuit of her dream after each setback.
Then last Friday, adrenaline surged through the Paralympian’s body as she entered the track for the qualifiers of the individual pursuit, a 3km race around the steep-sided oval of the St Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome in Paris. 
In the individual pursuit, the qualifiers are crucial: only first and second finishers in qualification make it to the gold medal final – and Taylor gave everything she had to get into that final. Once there, she would go on to win silver – a glorious first Paris 2024 Paralympic medal for Aotearoa New Zealand.
She will race again tonight on the road, in the individual time trial, in pursuit of her second Paralympic medal. 
In Tokyo 2020, Taylor had finished fifth in the individual pursuit. She was fourth in the event at the last two world championships. But this time, it was a different athlete who was waiting for the starting gun. Her “next level” nerves weren’t just because it was race day or because she was at the Paralympic Games, the pinnacle event for her sport. 
“My expectations of myself were higher,” she says. “It’s an intimidating feeling knowing you can perform well and hoping you do.”
It wasn’t until March that the skies finally cleared for Taylor. Her coach Damian Wiseman describes that moment as “breaking through the clouds”.
“The preparation has been so different compared with other competitions,” he says. “It’s been uninterrupted from March to the Games. The cool thing is that it has allowed Anna to go through the whole process from start to finish, to taper and peak for this event without hurdles or adjustments.”
In Paris, for the first time, there has been nothing in the way of Taylor showing the world what she is capable of achieving.
“It was the dream run-up to the Paralympics. Every other race there was a setback that has happened that meant I couldn’t produce what I know I’m capable of. This time, when it really mattered, there was nothing,” Taylor says.
When the starting gun fired for the qualifiers, Taylor shot from the gate and sped through the first laps at pace. In a three-kilometre race, it could be a risky gambit, leaving little in the tank for later. 
“I often come in too hot in the first couple of laps and pay later on,” says Taylor. 
Wiseman was at the side of the track, calling out Taylor’s lap times as she passed.
“My biggest concern was her hearing me,” he says. “The French crowd are really vocal, supporting everybody. That’s the experience she missed in Tokyo. It’s how it should be. A velodrome full of people cheering for you. 
“Anna was excited, full of adrenaline and she overshot her scheduled time in the first laps. But the good thing was that it put her ahead of the competitors who were looking to win that race. She settled back to the pace we were targeting and her fitness meant she was able to hold on at that pace to the end of the race.”
Holding on took everything Taylor had to give. She shook uncontrollably as she looked up to find out her time. The gambit had paid off. She had shaved an unbelievable six seconds off her personal best. Finishing second, she guaranteed herself a place in the gold medal final, and three hours later, she stepped onto the podium to claim her first Paralympic medal, a silver.
Clasping that shining memento of all that she had overcome, Taylor was thrilled to be able to share the moment. The rest of the Paralympic Team came out of the team hub to cheer as she arrived back in a moment she describes as really special. But even more special, six family members and her partner are in Paris with her, and to be able to deliver this happy moment to them is nothing short of a triumph.
“They have supported me through so much,” she says. “The countless medical appointments and surgeries, the major life events. They have been my champions. Now they are finally supporting me through something cool!”
As well as her whānau, Taylor’s teammates made the moment complete. Two in particular have been with her since she started in Para cycling. 
“Sport can be hard sometimes,” she explains. “I’ve been through a lot with Nicole (Murray). Performing on the big stage together has been so cool. To be able to share this with someone who has shared the tough times and can share the good times too.
“Damian is a great coach. He knew all along that this was what we were capable of doing and he’s such a big part of this success.”
Now, Wiseman is looking forward to seeing the new Anna Taylor compete in road cycling.
“She’ll outperform her previous results on the road as well, I’ve seen that in the past weeks of training,” he says. “We’ll have to wait and see where she finishes up. But the thing that I’m most impressed by? She had this opportunity, with no health issues popping up, and she did all the work in front of her. She worked really hard and the results of that work have accumulated. It’s an enormous positive in her success.”
UPDATE: Sprinter and jumper Anna Grimaldi enjoyed a scintillating run Wednesday morning NZT to grab bronze in the Women’s 100m T47 final, recording an Oceania record time of 12.20. The 27-year-old Kiwi, who had smashed the Oceania record to post a time of 12.23 in the heats, executed another superb race in the final to claim her third Paralympic Games medal following Women’s Long Jump T47 gold medals in Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.