On Wednesday morning, Thorgren is to meet with doctors from the Swedish Olympic Committee (SOK) at Sophiahemmet in Stockholm. The hope is that he will get the green light to start training at full capacity again soon.
The most important thing is health. But you get stressed out by falling behind, says Thorgren.
Sven Thorgren participated in the World Cup premiere in slopestyle on New Zealand in early September. But during a training session in Australia later the same month, disaster struck. The snowboard veteran performed a "not so well thought-out" trick and landed flat on his stomach, hitting his head on the ground.
I got amnesia. Then I came back after a week and started snowboarding again. But then I got a small setback with headaches that came back.
World Championship in March
You don't joke about head injuries, that's what Sven Thorgren knows. That's why he slammed on the brakes immediately.
I take that type of injury very seriously, because I have friends who have gone through the same and then crashed and needed six months of rehabilitation. That's what I'd rather avoid.
He missed the World Cup's big air premiere in Swiss Chur. And the injury messes up the season, where the big goals are the X Games in Aspen in January and the World Championship in Engadin in March.
Symptom-free
If the doctors give positive news, Thorgren hopes to still be able to join the rest of the national team at the upcoming camp in Austrian Stubai.
It's not optimal. But it's also because I'm taking the safe route. I hope to be able to go to Austria and ride. But I'm being very cautious.
Do you still feel it?
No, now it's symptom-free. It's more when I expose myself to "a bit more action". The last time I rode was almost two weeks ago, then it got progressively worse and I stopped immediately. Now I'm trying to come up with a plan with SOK on how to proceed.
A bright spot is that one of Thorgren's major goals – the Olympic Games in Milan and Cortina – is more than a year away.
Absolutely. There's still plenty of time to nail the tricks you need to nail. I'm not really missing out on more than a few training opportunities now.
30 November–1 December: Beijing (big air).
6–8 December: Secret Garden, Zhangjiakou, China (halfpipe).
18–20 December: Copper Mountain, USA (halfpipe).
3–5 January 2025: Klagenfurt, Austria (big air).
9–11 January: Kreischberg, Austria (big air).
15–18 January: Laax, Switzerland (halfpipe, slopestyle).
30 January–6 February: Aspen, USA (halfpipe, big air, slopestyle).
19–23 February: Calgary, Canada (halfpipe, slopestyle).
12–14 March: Italy, location not yet determined (slopestyle).
