Sheffield's injured Olympic star Bryony Page aims to peak in British and World Championships

The 26-year-old, who lives in Sheffield, shocked the trampoline world when she won silver at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, but even when preparing for the biggest moment of her life she was already planning to go under the knife the following month.

A long-standing ankle injury needed surgery to rectify, and while she clearly could manage the pain and discomfort leading into Rio, Page elected to have the operation in order to start the next Olympic cycle with a clean bill of health.

Things have not gone entirely to plan, though, with the three-time British Champion still yet to have made a full recovery and having to manage her time on the bed.

Page had initially targeted a return to action in April, but that date is sure to be delayed now, with the 2013 World Team Championship gold medallist still not in full training.

“It did not go as well as I’d hoped, not the surgery but the healing process,” said the University of Sheffield graduate, who was speaking at the BUCS Nationals event where she was presenting medals.

“I’ve got a lot of work to do to get up to physical fitness again. I’ve had to kind of downgrade my training and contact time on the trampoline. It’s been frustrating not being able to be on the trampoline as much as I’ve wanted to.

“But the silver lining is that I’ve been able to focus on the psychology and strength and conditioning side of things.

“We have British Nationals in September and World Championships in November, so I’d really like to be back to peak performance by then, they are my big goals of the year.

“Obviously I want to be back into competition earlier, if I can, and gets lots of competition experience under the belt with new routines.”

Page has already missed one World Cup this season, but with the next event not scheduled until August, she will be hopeful of competing at that competition in Minsk.

And she cannot wait to get back into competition, with new recruits to the British team – including newly crowned BUCS Nationals elite champion Zainub Akbar – and a new system adding to her anticipated return.

“At the moment it is quite exciting because we get to build up new routines for a new code of points,” she added.

“It’s an exciting time for trampolining and I’m looking forward to be able to compete again.

“I am on the trampoline now, it’s just reduced training so I’m having to work smartly and build my way back in.”

* British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) is the national governing body for Higher Education (HE) sport in the UK, organising leagues and competitions for more than 150 institutions across 52 different sports. BUCS Nationals is the UK’s largest annual multi-sport event, bringing over 6,000 athletes to Sheffield to compete in nine sports.