Photo: Bildbyrån
Hanna Öberg has been walking with an injured knee for almost a year. She still can’t train exactly as she wants.
It will be a battle against the clock to heal before the upcoming season.
– I haven’t been able to run as much as I want in the best of worlds, she tells SportExpressen.
We are used to seeing her at the top of the podium, with medals of the nobler denominations around her neck. But last year was unfortunately rather unsuccessful Hanna Öberg28, who was only on the podium on one occasion and eventually finished twelfth in the overall World Cup.
Last season was ruined by a knee injury, it turned out. After a race weekend in Germany’s Rupholding in January, everyone heard about the reason for the dismal year. Since then, she has had to change her entire training plan. Unfortunately, she still feels the damage.
Got to change the layout
Almost a year later, it still hurts her to run. Something that affected her training schedule during the summer.
– I have not yet reached full fitness. I have been able to run during the summer, but the longest runs have been two hours. Since then I haven’t been able to run as much as I want in the best of worlds. We are working on it and taking it step by step. I had hoped that I would run fully, because I enjoy running very much, she tells SportExpressen.
Öberg has worked closely with the medical team for several months. Although she’s making steady progress, she feels it’s slow – and she worries that she’s still not fully recovered.
– But the most important thing is that it works well to skate and that I can run a little, especially in the winter, but it’s enough that I can run up to an hour during the competition season, it’s quite a big difference to how it was, especially after Christmas last the season, she says.
Two months to the season
The biathlete has been forced to hone her technique extra this pre-season, to really make sure she doesn’t aggravate the injury due to technical mistakes.
Hopefully it pays off. She hopes to compete without any restrictions when the racing season kicks off in Kontiolahti, Finland, on November 30.
READ MORE: Hanna Öberg and Elvira Öberg’s first words about Stina Nilsson’s decision – now say what everyone is thinking: “She should be praised for it”
– It is easy when you get the feeling that you are changing the technology and it is not beneficial in any way. Neither for the injury nor for how fast you ski and we have had to work with that. And I’ve gotten better at that, being aware of it. It becomes almost even more important that you ride technically correctly because there is a risk that if you ride technically incorrectly, there will be a greater burden on the injury
Good luck with the new season, Hanna. Hope you recover soon from your knee injury and that you can drive at maximum speed as soon as the races start again.
There are many of us who are looking forward to seeing you compete for Sweden again this winter!
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