Hanna Öberg has had enough of all the colds that have stopped her from competing and training. Last Christmas was the first in four years that she and her partner Martin Ponsiluoma were able to celebrate Christmas with her parents. In the years before that, Öberg was sick around Christmas and New Year's and isolated herself in the basement for Christmas 2023 so as not to infect her partner.
This year she has already missed two high-altitude camps during the summer due to colds. And with the Olympics in February in mind, this year's Christmas celebrations will be in Central Europe.
I've had a hard time staying healthy when we traveled home for Christmas after the first trimester. So this is the biggest step I can take to stay healthy, says Öberg, who showed Olympic form when she won the sprint in Annecy last week - her first individual World Cup victory since 2023.
“A huge risk”
She says that it's the traveling that makes it easier to get sick.
"I think it's a huge risk you take after competing intensively for almost four weeks. And then it's stressful to get to the airport. You travel home the same day you competed and many people travel in the days before Christmas," she says.
There are many people who are generally sick at airports and on airplanes. The resistance after competing so much has been too poor to be able to stay healthy after that trip home.
Can get sick at high altitude
However, there will be no days at high altitude, as compensation for the high altitude days that Öberg missed this summer.
No, we will be at around 1,100-1,200 meters. The biggest reason is to stay healthy. I know that you can be tired after the first few weeks (with competition) and then going straight up to high altitude is a small risk. But being at that altitude (just over 1,000 meters) there is a greater likelihood that there will be good snow and good conditions for getting good training.
The World Cup restarts in Oberhof, Germany, on January 8th.
January 8-11, Oberhof, Germany: Sprint, pursuit start and relay.
January 14-18, Ruhpolding, Germany: Relay, sprint and pursuit start.
January 22-25: Nove Mesto, Czech Republic: Short distance, single mixed, mixed relay and mass start.
