Three months ago Heather Moyse came out of retirement to try to qualify for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games that are now just three months away.
At the mid-way point in her training, the two-time Olympic gold medalist brakeman is over the hump but certainly not over the hill. In fact, this week the 39-year-old pushed a training start one one-hundredth of a second off her personal best.
“To put down that number I was really surprised, really happy, but really surprised,” Moyse said.
Moyse won Olympic gold medals at the 2010 and 2014 Olympics as a brakeman for legendary pilot Kaillie Humphries, but it was a younger pilot — Alysia Rissling — who convinced her to come back to push and inspire the next generation.
WATCH: Two-time Olympic gold medalist Heather Moyse is juggling a wide range of emotion as she returns to the Canadian bobsled team. Brendan Parker has more on why she decided to come back to the sport.
Rissling reached out to Moyse on Instagram in August too see if she would push her sled if they qualify for the Olympics in South Korea. Rissling said she wanted both Humphries and Moyse back on Team Canada, even if they wouldn’t be sliding together.
“We have the chance for the first time ever of qualifying three sleds for the Olympics, and you’re the only one who’s been there in that capacity, and been at this high level and we could really use you. That’s what I said,” Rissling said at the time.
And that request from the next generation is what inspired Moyse to come back.
READ MORE: Humphries and Moyse named Canada’s flag bearers for Olympic closing ceremony
Moyse and Team Canada head to Europe on Friday for a series of races that will determine how many sleds Canada sends to the Olympics. If all goes well, Canada will send three sleds and Moyse will get a chance to push in her fourth Olympic games.
“I’m really pleased with where things are going, but I know I really need to stay focused and make sure I’m on the right trajectory progressing forward,” she said.
“I hope I’m in the right head space to also keep things in perspective for my team because that’s part of what they brought me back for.”
After three years away from the sport she loves, Moyse is back on track.