AWhen I got to my room at the quarantine hotel, it was like a bad movie. The low point. I was tested early every day and found out the next day: I’m positive again. If I had known from the start that it would be twelve days, I might have been calmer. In the meantime I just wanted to go home. I thought none of this makes sense here.
On Valentine’s Day I came back to the team hotel in the evening, but had to continue to isolate myself there. After the health check, I’m still out late on the cross-country ski run. I really needed to get some fresh air and exercise. That was the moment I thought it was over.
During the stress test, I felt good physically and in terms of running. After my jump on the day of the team competition I was very relieved. Not perfect, but really good for the whole situation. Now I could take a deep breath and focus on the run. It was my turn around 7:30pm, it was getting colder and colder.
Austria and Norway had pulled away slightly. I initially found the connection. But at the beginning of the second lap I felt the lactate in my thigh. Then came the cold. I tried to keep the gap as close as possible to the transition zone. As I lay there, I couldn’t move. Our supervisors carried me into the catacombs and wrapped me up warm.
I had no idea how the race had turned out. At some point it was said that we had won a medal. At least bronze, I thought. Luckily Vinz (closing runner Vinzenz Geiger, editor’s note) still made it. It wasn’t until I was back with the boys, in the TV interview, that I found out it was silver. I could hardly believe that it turned out like this.
Recorded by Julia Basic
