Amy Baserga has had a difficult few days. After the debacle in the sprint, the most successful Swiss biathlete of the season is suffering from self-doubt. In the singles, she finds pride and joy again.
18.02.2025, 19:15
SDA
"The first 30 minutes were extremely bad," Amy Baserga recalls last Friday with a shudder. After coming 3rd in Ruhpolding in January as a contender for the first Swiss medal at a biathlon world championship, she finished 61st in the sprint. After a less than perfect, but at least solid performance in the individual competition (19th place), the 24-year-old from Schwyz can at least smile a little again.
Until halfway through the competition, she was even close to the podium after hitting the first 14 (out of 20) shots, but then two mistakes crept in. "I had a lot of pressure on me over the last few days," admits the woman from Einsiedeln. "As an athlete, you have to be able to deal with defeats, but it took a lot of energy."
Videos of the podium run
She took a day off and had two very good training days. "On the day of the pursuit competition (which she missed), I trained alone in the stadium, it almost felt like summer training." She also watched two or three videos of her podium run in Ruhpolding to get a good feeling again.
Then Baserga becomes fundamental: "I realized it's just biathlon. Just because I have a bad day doesn't make me a bad person." But for her as an athlete, biathlon is "everything. It makes you doubt yourself." It was therefore all the more important that she was able to enjoy the competition on Tuesday in front of 6,200 spectators. "It's really nice to see so many Swiss people there on a Tuesday, that meant a lot to me." It also helped her to rediscover her joy and pride.
Debacle ticked off
Baserga was unable to qualify for the mass start race on Sunday, and whether she or Lena Häcki-Gross will be competing in the single mixed event with one man and one woman on Thursday will only be decided after the men's singles on Wednesday. However, the Schwyz native has now put the debacle in the sprint behind her. Even after two phone calls with her mental coach, she realized: "You have to accept a day like this so that you can put it behind you."
In any case, she still has an important competition ahead of her. If the Swiss women's relay team wants to have a chance of a top place, it needs Amy Baserga to be in top form. The team spirit is right anyway. While Baserga is still talking to the media, Häcki-Gross hurries back to the finish area, gives her a big hug and congratulates her on a good race, with which she has exorcized a few demons.
