– As a professional skier, one of the most important questions every year is where to prepare for the winter season. The pre-competition summer period is when the competitor can train peacefully and focus on their development because the pressure of the next competition is still months away. Thus, the quality of the training in the summer and autumn periods is what lays the foundation for the entire winter competition season.
– However, due to the constantly rising summer temperatures, it is difficult to predict which ski resorts will provide the best conditions for training.
– But, one thing that is a fixed point in this unpredictable weather is the indoor ski hall. No matter what the weather is outside, the ski hall is always at minus degrees, and the same icy ground awaits us at every training session. Although the indoor ice is not exactly the same as the conditions on the outdoor ski slopes, it is still an optimal place to start the summer season and test and select new ski equipment. I was with my sister Noa in the Belgian Peer ski hall for the first time two years ago, and then we realized that this place could provide us with optimal conditions. This is why we decided to favor this facility again this year in July.
– This time, our brother Barnabas joined us as well, and with him, the whole NIVELCO Racing Team was training together again. We spent 7 days in Belgium, 6 of which we skied, with two two-hour snow training sessions daily. For the first 3 days, we expected the usual conditions, but on the fourth day, the conditions contradicted the above. On our rest day, a local school team went skiing inside, and a child dropped their glove on the magic carpet, which pulled it into the engine compartment and caught fire. Fortunately, the fire brigade could extinguish the fire, but a large part of the snow and ice melted. However, the ice was able to be frozen back the next day, and we were able to train. To our surprise, the re-frozen ice was much more similar to the conditions in the Alps. Thus, we were able to take advantage of the remaining 3 days with even better conditions, although we had to ski with masks for these 3 days because the burnt rubber smell remained inside the training facility.
– In August, our preparation continued on real snow on a glacier above 3000 meters (9,842 ft). This year, we opted for the Swiss glaciers, which turned out to be a very good decision. The tiny Italian-style apartment in Cervinia granted only space for two persons at the time. So, I chose to invest one more week into gym training while Noa and Barni were already on snow. After one week, I switched places with Noa, as she was heading to Finland soon to prepare herself there for the Slalom World Cup opening. I spent 3 weeks in Cervinia and then 2 weeks in Saas Fee. My brother and I were greeted with wonderful icy conditions every day. These were the best summer conditions in years, and the good preparation began to show in my skiing at the end of the camp. I had 5 weeks of intense glacier training in total, and yet I was still jealous of my brother because he was able to ski even one more week here. Nevertheless, I have never felt so well prepared for the upcoming competition season.
– Then came what had to come. It didn’t take much, a missed turn on the last day of the camp. My knee could not withstand the physical forces that were raining down on it due to the mistake, and my anterior cruciate ligament ruptured.
– Since the healing time of the anterior cruciate ligament is at least 9 months, this one fatal mistake prevented me from racing in the 2024 season.
– However, this long and quality preparation was not in vain. I downloaded the training videos I saved and wrote down my sensations during skiing so that I could continue my preparation for the 2025 World Championship season from where I left off after rehabilitation.
– I had to wait 3 weeks for my surgery, but I was able to start my physical therapy already before the operation. I made good progress with my recovery, so much so that I was able to walk normally again without any aids before the surgery. Then came the day of the operation on October 25th. Until then, I didn’t believe that it would really take 9 months for me to ski again because I felt my recovery was very fast. However, getting out of surgery dispelled the illusion that I would get over this quickly. No matter how common an anterior cruciate ligament surgery is, it is still a major intervention in the human body. It hit me much harder than the accident itself. It’s a scary feeling when you try as hard as you can but can’t move your own leg. And no matter what you do, you feel pain in your leg and the feeling that your leg is just an unnecessary burden on your body. However, I would like to thank the kind nurses here for reassuring me that from now on, it will be better day by day. Of course, I didn’t believe this at first, but they were right, and I woke up in a completely different state on the second day after surgery.
– Three weeks after my surgery, I am still only at the beginning of a very long journey. However, I still wake up in a better state every day. I can bend my knee more and more every day, and I can do the physical therapy exercises with less and less pain day by day. These small daily developments are huge daily victories for me and make me believe that in 9 months, I can really return to the level where I left.
