Biathlon overall World Cup winner Franziska Preuß openly speaks about severe setbacks in recent years. The 31-year-old reveals how close a career end in the meantime.
Franziska Preuß celebrated its greatest sporting success with the winning of the overall biathlon World Cup. The 31-year-old crowned a strong season, she is the first German overall winner since Laura Dahlmeier in 2017.
Preuss’ success is also a sign of many critics that they have written off in recent years. As the 31 -year -old exclusively reveals Spotlight in Sport1 , they have also mentally burdened the difficult phases in the recent past.
Franziska Preuß talks about difficult phases in her career
Biathlon queen Preuss: “I was very frustrated”
“I was very frustrated, I went through a lot at the time. The last two or three years have not been going well at all,” reveals Preuss.
But that was not the only problem. “You then read comments last year like: ‘It should just stop’ or ‘Nothing won’t be with her anyway’. I thought: ‘Now it is time, now people are already writing something like that about me’. However, I always had the belief that I have not yet exhausted my full potential,” she clarified.
End of career? “Fortunately, get out of your head”
Nevertheless, “somehow a cold has always come between”, which today’s overall World Cup winner thrown back. The native of Wasserburg, too, made decisive changes in her preparation for the winter of 2024/25.
“Now I was motivated again to find out what I can still change and how I can strengthen my immune system. Fortunately, it worked. I am very grateful that everything worked out this winter,” she said.
A career end last year was not an option for the 31-year-old, but she admitted that there have been moments in previous years, “in which I doubted. Fortunately, I always got that out of my head quickly. The sport is so cool, is so much fun.”
She herself had to remember the joy of the biathlon again and again, but outsiders and friends also encouraged her to continue.
After a vacation in Thailand, Preuss wants to treat himself to a little free time before the preparations for the 2025/26 winter season begin – in which the Olympic Games will also take place in Italy.