Biathlon star Lisa Vittozzi.

Emotional Vittozzi letter: These lines get under your skin

Lisa Vittozzi made a big impression in the last biathlon winter. But before that she went through hell for two years. Now the Italian is speaking in detail for the first time about this terrible time.

31 May 2023

From: det

In the 2018/19 season, Lisa Vittozzi achieved her big breakthrough in the biathlon circus. She narrowly missed the overall World Cup, which her teammate Dorothea Wierer took home. Italy – it seemed – now has two superstars in its ranks who are putting fear into the competition. This also applied to the tireless Wierer, but Vittozzi suddenly experienced an inexplicable slump. She finished the 2019/20 season in 10th place overall, but in the following two years things went downhill rapidly - and nobody knew why.

“I had a blackout for two years,” the 28-year-old admitted in an emotional letter The Owl Post has been published. “I felt very uncomfortable practicing this sport, I was no longer satisfied, I doubted my abilities and didn't recognize myself. I had panic attacks and when I think about it now it makes me shiver like my chest is being crushed.”

“I hit rock bottom at the Olympics. It didn’t go any further down.” Lisa Vittozzi

Vittozzi makes it clear that the end of his career was not out of the question at that time. “I received one blow after the next and could have thrown everything away,” said the biathlete from Sappada/Plodn. “But something inside me told me that that wouldn’t have been right. It was better to suffer until the end and hit rock bottom. I then reached this low point in Beijing (at the Olympic Games, editor's note). A voice in my head said: I can't go any further down. All you can do now is delete everything.”

Vittozzi came up trumps this year. © APA/afp / MICHAL CIZEK

That was the moment when the turning point came. “It sounds stupid, but it is true. Suddenly I had the realization that the world isn't ending, that I can really start over. That gave me strength and energy.” The results speak for themselves: The Italian landed in third place in the overall World Cup, won the small crystal ball in the individual and also four World Cup medals. The old Lisa Vittozzi has made an impressive comeback.