Biathlon, Dorothea Wierer: “The lockdown was decisive for my future. Not everyone ask me for advice”

The summer training of the Italian National team of Biathlon continues to prepare for the 2020-2021 World cup that will be even more complicated due to the on-going sanitary emergency around the world. The team is at Anterselva, near Bolzano, for their sixth training camp of the summer. And, the star of the Italian movement, Dorothea Wierer could not miss the appointment. Already in excellent condition considering the time of the season, the winner of last season world cup revealed how the lockdown represented a crucial moment for her career. It was an opportunity for her to have a break, both physically and mentally, and to find new motivations.

The 30-year-old from Rasun does not like to celebrate the past successes; instead, she prefers focusing on the next two years during which she will compete with fierce opponents: “I don’t think that much about what happened here at Anterselva a few months ago. I am delighted about it, but I prefer focusing on this moment. The past is the past, and I prefer focusing on the future.”

At the moment, the Italian does not want to focus too much on the goal of the hat trick for the World Cup: “Every season is different, I don’t know how mine will be. I hope it will be good enough, but I will try to confirm myself at the top. It’s known that there are many great ones, and maybe even young ones who are growing. After last season I was done, I was so tired. Then, for the first time, I could rest for an entire month, lying on the couch, it was amazing. After that, I found the right motivations and the will of training. If it were like the previous season, when I was always travelling in the spring, without having the possibility to relax, I would not be here now…”

At Anterselva, with the senior national team, there are also some of the junior team. However, Wierer does not feel she is a guide for the young ones: “They don’t see me as a guide. I think they are already very confident in themselves. When we can, we try to give them a piece of advice; when they want, because not all of them are interested in having suggestions. They all want to grow and improve every day, and they are very determinate. If we keep going in this direction and keep working together, we will do great things in the future.”

Wierer knows that they will face an atypical season. At the moment, the pre-Olympic race at Beijing is not confirmed yet: “We’ll need to adapt to whatever happens during the season. We’ll need to be flexible; anything can happen. The races will happen for sure, but we do not know which ones yet and if we are going or not to Beijing. Honestly, for me, it is the same. If next year, we can go there a few days before the Olympic Games, we’ll understand how the track is; therefore, it does not change much to me if we are going there this season or not. Actually, it could be one less long trip to do. The entire season, with all the health protocols, will be very stressful. and it will be hard to manage.”

This year, Fillon Maillet has launched a web-series called “In the line of sight” to share his summer preparation. But Weirer does not seem interested in a series about her road to Beijing 2022 similar to the style of “The last dance” about Michael Jordan: “Well, the series about Michael Jordan is great, but I think it is very dramatic and not completely true, I mean, by the comments of his teammate it seems a bit fake. Also, I believe the series about me would boring; I don’t do much. We train, we eat, we have some commitments, everyone is different, but we don’t really have a lot to tell.”

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Photo Credit: LaPresse