Lisa Vittozzi's golden change: "I'm a better person now"

Almost exactly five years ago, Lisa Vittozzi celebrated her first World Cup medal in an individual race in Östersund. Back then it shone silver. Now she has the first one made of gold hanging around her neck. In the 15-kilometer individual in Nove Mesto she was simply unbeatable.

Between Östersund and Nove Mesto there is an Olympic bronze, further World Cup medals and World Cup victories. Above all, there is a big black hole in between, into which the young Lisa Vittozzi fell with her first failures. She fired a series of shots off target, ran after them on the trail, and shed bitter tears at the finish. Coaches and companions were at a loss. “But I’ve left all that behind me,” said the now 29-year-old in an interview on Tuesday evening SportNews . “Pressure turned into passion.” Lisa Vittozzi She also revealed how she overcame the crisis. “It was a way of life. I changed a lot, almost everything. But most of all, I learned to listen to my inner self. With outside help, I looked deeply into myself and tried for weeks, even months, to understand my thoughts and emotions. Now I feel very balanced and really strong in my head. I now live the sport of biathlon completely differently. Pressure turned into passion.” Then she paused in the interview in the press center of the World Cup arena, looked thoughtfully to the side and added: “This has made me a better athlete, but also a better person.”

Vittozzi now feels different, less intense. She no longer experiences ups and downs. “The disadvantage is that moments like these leave me relatively cold at first. “That will all come later,” she smiled, one hand holding the gold medal on her chest. “I am more balanced and calmer in the race.”

The moment of shock becomes a key moment This calmness also helped Vittozzi to overcome an early moment of shock in the World Cup singles. With the first of a total of 20 shots, the cartridge didn't want to go into the gun properly. The experienced biathlete from Friuli had to take her chin off the holder again and pull out the stuck cartridge. She lost a good 15 seconds before the first shot finally flew towards the target. “I turned my head off, stayed completely calm – and hit all the targets. That was the key moment. After that I was really on fire,” beamed Vittozzi.

The interview was actually over, the microphone was already off, when Vittozzi turned back and politely asked for an addition. “I dedicate this medal to my team. That's important to me. The trainers helped me find myself again. They gave me peace of mind at the shooting range. My teammates played a big part and so did the service people, they provided us with fantastic skis in the last few races.”

With these fantastic skis, Lisa Vittozzi will continue her hunt for medals on Thursday. Then she will compete in the single mixed relay with either Tommaso Giacomel or Lukas Hofer - and will once again be among the podium contenders.

Read all the news about the 2024 Biathlon World Cup here.

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Lisa Vittozzi's golden change: "I'm a better person now"

Lisa Vittozzi was at rock bottom in her life as an athlete; many had already written her off. But with a big change she worked her way back up to the biathlon Olympus, which she climbed on Tuesday evening in Nove Mesto. Here, Vittozzi gives SportNews readers insights into her thoughts.

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