Unfortunately, following the first Belgian top 10 in a mixed relay, I soon after began to feel sick upon arriving in Ruhpolding. A quick test later and I was met with the bad news that I had caught the coronavirus. As soon as I began to feel well enough to travel, I did just that and traveled to Lillehammer to rest and recover.

 At the time of writing, I have been slowly increasing my training volume and intensity, building up after the time I was away from training, and listening to my body to determine how quickly the legs and lungs are coming back after the virus. It still isn’t training as normal, but the body has been feeling good during training which is good news! However, I notice that I need to focus on recovery outside of training sessions as I can certainly feel that the energy levels are lower than normal given my training load.

While my physical training load isn’t fully at 100% yet, I’ve still been able to improve myself as an athlete and to focus extra on the small things that will help me become a better biathlete. The reduced training hours have allowed me more time to train with my rifle, as well as to perform balance exercises and technique training drills that will hopefully pay off once the body is firing again on all cylinders

I’ll do everything I can to get back into racing shape by the World Championships, but I must be patient and take the time that it takes to overcome this virus and get back to my best. Cross your fingers for me that this has blown over by the time my toes touch the starting line next Wednesday, but no matter what, I’ll give it everything I’ve got!