Olympic skier trampolines to perfect his skills

13 hours ago

Alex Pope,Northamptonshireand

Annabel Amos,Northamptonshire

News image — Mateo Jeannesson (third from left) trained with members of Northamptonshire Trampoline Gymnastics Academy with the help of Harvey Smith (right)

Northamptonshire Trampoline Gymnastics Academy Four people standing in a gym, by trampolines, that are behind them. A man, wearing a black T-shirt and short is to the right, with short dark hair, then a woman, wearing black shorts, long hair tied back and a cream top. Mateo Jeannesson is wearing a black T-shirt, and blue shorts and has short curly hair, and Harvey Smith, a blue top, dark shorts, with short dark hair. — Mateo Jeannesson (third from left) trained with members of Northamptonshire Trampoline Gymnastics Academy with the help of Harvey Smith (right)

Team GB mogul skier Mateo Jeannesson has trained with a trampolining squad which has helped "improve his aerial awareness and confidence" for the Winter Olympics, a gym owner said.

Harvey Smith, managing director of the Northamptonshire Trampoline Gymnastics Academy in Northampton, said the freestyle skier visited the club over two weeks in July.

Jeannesson is due to take place in the second round of qualifying for the event at the Milan and Cortina 2006 later.

On Tuesday, he finished in 28th place in the first round.

Reuters Mateo Jeannesson in action in the Freestyle Skiing Men's Moguls Qualification. He is horizontal in the air, holding two ski poles, with skis on his feet, and wearing white trousers, white top, with a helmet, goggles, and a blue vest. He is surrounded by white snow. — Mateo Jeannesson in action during the Winter Olympics 2026

After Tuesday's racing, Jeannesson told the BBC : "I wanted to put a good run down, but I've had a pretty difficult season; I've battled with an injury on my foot so I'm glad to be here.

"I'll try my best, hopefully it will be better conditions with the light."

Smith said: "A lot of training was done on the trampoline to improve his aerial awareness and his confidence.

"He was an absolutely fantastic young man, very conscientious, he worked really hard to improve his skills.

"He was open and just cracked on.

"The mogul runs are formed of bumps and turns and then they go off ramps and they get judged on their execution skills."

PA Media Mateo Jeannesson during a kitting out session, in front of a blue screen, wearing a white top, he has short dark curly hair. He is looking straight at the camera. — Harvey Smith said he worked on Jeannesson's aerial work as that was one area where he had "struggled a little"

He said Jeannesson was an alpine skier who migrated to the moguls.

To aid his training he was contacted by GB snow sports as the trampolining club had previously trained Max Willis, another mogul skier, Smith said.

It meant he watched other gymnasts and applied what he saw to his own training.

"When he was on the trampoline he used some wooden dowels as his poles so it was similar to what he would be holding when he was doing the tricks."

The skills in trampolining can be "transformed" for use in other sports, Smith said.

He has also helped train other athletes including high jumpers, and line-up work with the Red Roses England Women's rugby squad and Northampton Saints rugby team.

"It's to work on core stability, core strength, balance and confidence," he added.

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