“I was so fussy with my food until about three years ago. “My mum’s a really good cook, but as a child I didn’t eat a lot,” she laughs. It wasn’t the first time Jastrab had said no to her parents. So to win not one but two golds was, like, woah. “I thought I might get a podium at best, that would have been great. “My parents wanted to come to Frankfurt to watch me in the Junior Track Worlds and I told them not to bother because I didn’t really have a shot of winning,” she recounts.
Already in her young career she’s made a habit of surprising. The wonder girl from Los Angeles, however, had made her mark again. Jastrab, and her three colleagues rode to a bronze medal that she admits, collectively, was “seen as a failure because there were such high expectations.” But if you’re happy and want me to go again, sure!’ It was crazy.” I was like, ‘hold up, I’ve only just done my first elite TP and I’m happy with that. “I questioned, ‘but, why? I’m not riding? Another team’s riding.’ And then they said they wanted me in the finals. “It was pretty crazy because as soon as we had finished the qualifying, the coaches asked me to do the same thing again. “A 4-07 was insane compared to what the world record was before the Games,” Jastrab, who turns 20 in January, says. In the next round, they went ever quicker, posting 4-07.562, but losing against British opposition. The Americans posted a time of 4-10.118 in qualifying that, had Germany not went three seconds quicker just moments earlier, would have been a new world record.
I had done one simulation with the girls before but my very first senior TP race was in Tokyo.” “I wasn’t expected to be in the Olympics TP until a few months to go. “I had done team pursuit stuff at junior level and we weren't going as fast,” she recollects. but thought she was going into the Olympics as fifth reserve. As the Games got closer, her outstanding ability promoted her to the senior women’s team pursuit squad who, spearheaded by Chloé Dygert, were among the favourites to win gold. She was training on the track in preparation for the Tokyo Olympics that got shunted back a year to the 2021 summer. “It felt weird being with elite champions, but they said I was going to wear them no matter the category.” Jastrab’s disappointment was tempered slightly, however, by the fact that USA Cycling allowed her to train in her track rainbow jersey with the elite category.
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