Everything Joanna Rowsell has touched in 2014 has turned to gold, but she’s happy to admit she’s treaded a rocky path in a bid to end the year the same way.

Rowsell began the year by claiming gold in the team and individual pursuits at the World Championships in Cali – regaining the former she last won in 2012.

The 25-year-old went on to claim the individual pursuit title at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games while representing Team England but wasn’t done there on the international stage.

Back in the team pursuit, she retained her European title with Great Britain in October and will now bid to end a golden year with further gold at the London UCI Track Cycling World Cup.

Rowsell’s training dipped in the build up after a switch didn’t quite work out but, back in her old routine, she’s confident she can deliver back at the scene of her Olympic success.

“I have had two weeks in Majorca, which were brilliant, my form has come on massively,” Rowsell, who claimed the Olympic team pursuit title at London 2012, told British Cycling.

“I had a break after the Commonwealths, tried some different training out which didn’t really work for me. It worked well for some of the other girls but I just dipped so stopped and did what worked for me.

“It’s not that I’m not willing to try new training, but at my age I’ve done it for enough years to know what works. It’s good to try out new things and say ‘let’s go back to what we know works’.

“So I went to Majorca and had a good two weeks, all of my power outputs are coming back to what I’d expect and I feel a lot better on the track, so I’m in the right direction now.”

Rowsell will turn 26 on the opening day of the London leg of the World Cup on Friday but knows she cannot rest on a glorious 2014 if she wants further success.

“The competition within the squad is a really positive thing in terms of us beating the rest of the world. That’s probably our secret to success because every day in training you are being pushed by somebody,” she added.

“You’ve always got to prove yourself to be in the team. Everything is timed and recorded, so there’s no hiding at all, which isn’t good when you don’t do well but great when you’re flying.”

© Sportsbeat 2014