Elvira Öberg went towards an absolutely fantastic season.
Then came the disease.
Now she opens up about the leaden period.
– I don’t know if I’m at a normal level yet, she says.
Elvira Öberg had a fantastic breakthrough last year and ahead of the just ended season the hopes for her were high. But she skied better than anyone could have dreamed of, and during the fall and the beginning of winter she was a giant in the biathlon world.
On the way to smash success
But just after the turn of the year, Öberg fell ill. She missed competitions, but once she returned she performed well, and she entered the WC as the big gold favorite in several distances. But then came another setback. Öberg got sick again, this time so bad that she couldn’t compete, and she never recovered from it.
After a season that was completely ruined, where she had the chance to win the overall World Cup but lost because of the illness, Öberg still sums it up as a success.
– I am very satisfied with the level I maintained, as long as I stayed healthy. And despite the fact that I also had a small cold in Ruhpolding, which affected those weekends also in January, I am very satisfied with what I actually performed, she tells Radiosporten.
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Honest words
Öberg believes that the months were heavy, and that it was difficult to see her beautiful autumn just disappear because of the illness.
– Then I got sick at the WC, and it’s unclear what it actually was, whether it was covid or not, but regardless, it took a very hard toll on the body. It was a tough few weeks there. And a lot that felt like it was slipping out of my hands, and when the body doesn’t quite respond as you want, then it gets tough, she says.
At the same time, Elvira Öberg is honest that the illness took time, and she is not even sure that she is fully recovered today.
– It’s hard to say how long it will take, and I don’t really know yet if I’m at a normal level yet. Then there was a holiday and I really tried to take it easy and recover and give my body the best possible conditions to find its way back to normal. Now that we’re going into this training season, it’s also quite a while before we get back up to those levels. Now it’s pretty much low-intensity and many hours have to go in, and the body has felt good during that training.
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