Wow, the 2021/2022 season has offered so much! I achieved way more than I had dared to dream about beforehand. I ended up in 28th place in the World Cup overall ranking, compared to 83rd place the season before – my progression in the overall position shows exactly that: progression! Two 13th places stand as my best individual results, and I was the fourth best female shooter throughout the whole World Cup season. Last but not least, I qualified for my first Olympics!
From November until March I have been traveling almost continuously, so now I’m looking forward to being home and enjoying time with my closest friends and relatives.

After two years of cancellations because of Covid it was finally time for my first world cup in Holmenkollen, Oslo. With the spectators back in the stands and Easter weather in the air, the stage was set for a perfect weekend. Since we have been so lucky to compete in good winter conditions this whole season there were a lot of red faces in the finish area after racing in +8C degrees and full sun – not your typical winter-sport conditions! Since I didn't compete last weekend in Otepää due to sickness, I was keen to see how my body would react. As feared, my body felt a bit heavy on the tracks, but I tried my best to compensate with good shooting. 32nd place in the sprint and 38th in the pursuit was an acceptable result.
The season finished with a mass start race, and the plan was to enjoy the good atmosphere and really attack the shooting range. I finally hit 20/20 shots for the first time this season, which was the perfect way to cap off an international season filled with many personal bests!

A big goal in my career has been achieved, and I can truly call myself an Olympian!

Now I’m back in Norway and have had some time to reflect on the past weeks' experiences and events. Without sugarcoating anything, my results from the Olympics were far worse than expected. Physically, my shape was good, but I struggled at the shooting range. Not managing to achieve the results I’m capable of in the Olympics has been one of the hardest things I have experienced as an athlete. Especially given my accomplishments earlier this season, this was a very sour apple to bite into. But the races are done, and I cannot change the past, so now I take with me lessons learned and I’ll be more experienced for the future.

After my last competition I had a few free days that I used to experience the Olympic atmosphere. Playing virtual games, setting foot on the Great Wall of China, trying out the cross-country trails, and supporting the Belgian men’s team during their relay all helped to fill the extra time in the Olympic village. Then, after a full day of travel, I could finally land on the couch at home in Lillehammer again. Home, sweet home!

Three weeks and 7 competitions later the second trimester in the world cup is done and dusted. The trimester has had ups and downs, but has mostly been very educational and I have a lot of new experiences to bring with me to the olympics. Now I am located in Bessans in France, where we are acclimatizing and recharging before departure to Beijing.

Looking so forward to begin the Olympic Games!

It is 2022. Christmas break is over and so is the first worldcup in this new year. After some sickness around christmas I was curious how my shape would be. With the toughest tracks in the worldcup and hard weather conditions, the sprint result was not exactly what I was hoping for.
But the single mixed relay on the other hand was super fun and exciting! I got the honor to do the last leg and could pass the finish line in 6th position! Best ever result for Belgium biathlon! This was cool!. We did not have our best day at the shooting range either, so our ambition and dream for a podium is still alive!
During the pursuit I could handle the conditions at the range quite good, and with 18 hits I was able to climb 12 positions and crossed the finishline in 32nd place.

Ruhpolding next!

Time flies when you’re having fun! Week three of the World Cup is already done, and at the time of writing I am in the van on my way to Le Grand Bornand for the final World Cup before Christmas.
Hochfilzen delivered a beautiful winter wonderland, with one night providing over a half meter of fresh snow. As a winter athlete I’ve learned to make the most of every competition, regardless of conditions, but I’ve equally learned to be very grateful for every centimeter of sweet powder that nature provides! There is not much in life that can be compared with fresh groomed ski tracks—as far as you’re able to see!

My Hochfilzen competition schedule was to compete in the sprint first, and then the pursuit. 
During the sprint my body felt like it couldn’t quite get into high gear, and so I struggled a bit in the tracks here. With that said, it was my first race of the year at altitude so I have to be patient and let my body fully acclimatize. All things considered I managed to keep control physically and hold a very even pace. However, one penalty loop each in prone and standing really hurt the end result—so there’s room for improvement to be had on the range. I ended up in 46th place, and am not quite happy with that result, though I kept looking forward and was ready to hunt during the pursuit. 
I used the training day between the competitions to regain the good feeling on the shooting range, and recharge the body and refocus the mind. The pursuit went much better as I managed to hold my focus and perform at the shooting range, which resulted in 19 hits. My body felt much more acclimated, and in good shape all throughout the race. It was an awesome feeling hunting down woman after woman and to cross the finishline in 25th, and with an isolated 10th best pursuit time!

Wow, what a start of this new season! 15th place in the first World Cup event, something I hadn't even dared to dream about. 19 hits and good pacing in the tracks made this season’s first international race a memory I’ll never forget. It was my best World Cup finish by 21 places. I managed to wrap up the weekend in style when I finished 22nd in the sprint, even after a missed shot in prone.
This weekend's result was a confirmation that training this year has gone well, and that I am making persistent progress towards the top! The end result was quite the confidence boost, but I also noticed that I could hang on some of the fastest skiers in the tracks, something that I couldn’t quite manage in previous years.

I feel strong and I can’t wait for the next competition, which is another sprint here in Østersund on Thursday December 2^nd!

And in the blink of an eye the Norwegian Summer Championships are now behind me!

During the sprint on Saturday I managed to stay in my own bubble and stick to my race plan. It felt really good to hit all ten targets on the range and ski right past the penalty loop. Physically I didn't feel super fresh, and with an early bib I didn’t have much reference about how I was racing compared to the rest of the field. When I found out that I came third I was completely speechless! It felt so unexpected, and with all the athletes from the national team on the start, I hadn't dared to dream about finishing on the podium. Super nice feeling! And with new rules from the biathlon federation I was able to take home the bronze medal, even with a double citizenship, I really appreciate that! 

Sunday it was the mass start. I quickly realized that my body wasn't particularly fresh today either, so I focused on staying with the leaders going into the shooting range and using clean shooting to move up the field. It went very well until the last shooting, when I missed two targets and fell down the result list. I finished in 11th place.

All in all, I’m pleased with the race weekend. It has been a long time since I had such a good experience at a summer national, and the results will bring some self-confidence and inspiration to my autumn training. The timing is perfect because this is the time of the year to keep up the hard work...the ski season is right around the corner! ❄

The second camp of the season was located in Geilo. We lived in cabins belonging to our team's main sponsor, Bardøla. The training sessions had good quality, and were both easy and hard. First hard training was 30/15 running intervals during 10 minutes with a 3 minute break, 3 repetitions. The last interval was a speed workout on rollerskis in quite flat terrain, 8x6 min.

There was also time for some shooting tests, and the team delivered an insane 200 shots standing test. The average in our group of 18 athletes was 195 hits, which is pretty good, I think! I managed to set a personal record here with 200 hits, nice to finally achieve this!

Training for the Olympics has begun, and the big change for this coming year is that I have joined team Maxim. Our group consists of 11 girls, 7 boys and 2 coaches, and although the year has just begun I’m impressed and encouraged by the level and motivation of my new teammates!

I’ve had a smooth start to the season, and already me and Team Maxim have begun laying the groundwork for the winter and completed many key training sessions. It’s not difficult to maintain motivation when the Olympics are right around the corner. Even though it's sunny and warm, thoughts of snow under my feet in Beijing keep the competitive fire burning every day! As of today I’m qualified to participate, but the process isn’t final until after Christmas, so nothing is guaranteed until then, so I need to make sure I’m sharp right from the start of the season. I will train and prepare as best as I can, and let the results show for themselves!

Stay tuned, and I will post regular updates from my training!