DO NOT USE DO NOT USE DO NOT USE

Fresh from the World Cycling Championships in Glasgow where he returned with a silver and bronze medal, track cyclist Thomas Cornish is using the knowledge he’s attained through studying nutrition at university to ensure his time out doesn’t become a blow out.

The next few weeks represent the last big break the New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) scholarship athlete will have in the lead up to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, a place where he desperately wants to be.

“This is our last major break before the Olympics,” said Cornish (pictured second from the left). “We don’t get a lot of time to sit and do nothing. We’re always ‘on’ so I’m enjoying myself while hanging out with mates, seeing family, and relaxing.”

However, the 23-year-old is ensuring his break doesn’t allow for too many sessions of overindulging at ice cream parlours or feasting on other foods that an athlete focused on their Olympic dream steers clear of.

“I guess we’re allowed to, a little bit,” he said of relaxing his food choices. “But what’s going through my head is whatever weight I put on I’ll have to take off. I’m chilling out, but I’m minimizing any damage.”

“While I’m on my break I’m slowly getting back into [my routine] so that means spending a little bit of time in the gym. I’ll be back in full training on the velodrome in about month and that’ll be it until the Games.

“One of the biggest things in an off-season is people tend to be more relaxed and not eat or train as well. You can think, ‘it’s the off-season, the race isn’t for another eight months so it doesn’t really matter’ but this is also the time where we build everything for the next season.

“But my thought is even though the [Olympics] is a fair way off, being dialed in is super important. It’s hard to do all the time, but [thinking like that] is one of the things that makes the difference.”

Cornish said the insights he’d gained from studying about nutrition at university – which includes the values of eating well and healthily – had given him a huge advantage as an athlete, including an understanding that protein is a good friend.

“I eat six serves of it a day, every day,” he said. “Normally I’ll have my three meals, which is standard, and then I’ll have a protein shake, a tin of tuna – it has lots of protein and is lean – and then I’ll have low fat plain Greek yoghurt just before I go to bed because it is a slow release protein and is released during the night. It keeps you fed.”

Daniel Lane, NSWIS