Stina Nilsson had finished her training session on roller skis and was about to go home when the roller ski got stuck in a rock.
Nilsson fell forward and broke his elbow.
- You become a bit like 'god what we expose ourselves to things'.
Because that was not even fast speed.
I go well much faster when we go perform the velodrome (in Falun) for example.
So you get quite humble before that if you were to fall there, it could go really, really bad, she says.
The coach stopped Nilsson from poles
Nilsson started with four days of rest and since then she has trained without poles at home in Malung.
Now she is in Östersund and today she tried to ride with poles for the first time since the crash.
- It went very well, but then Johannes (Lukas, national team coach) came and said that we should wait a little longer.
And I know we will have to wait a little longer, but now I know that it's going well.
So it feels good, says 27-year-old Nilsson who is doing his first pre-season as a biathlete.
The crash has nevertheless affected shooting training quite a lot.
- I do not shoot lying down so far because that is probably the last thing I will start doing in my rehabilitation.
But standing has started to work very well.
I am careful that I do not make any hasty movements, she says and continues:
- It is clear that it was not desirable.
Absolutely not.
But at the same time, I am incredibly satisfied with this solution and that I feel that I can continue to develop.
"I just want to compete"
The idea was that Stina Nilsson would initially compete in the IBU Cup (the level below the World Cup), but since all competitions in the IBU Cup before the turn of the year have now been canceled, the international debut may have to wait.
- I obviously have great respect for the world situation in general, so there is nothing I should say about.
But for me personally, I do not think it affects me very much, because I just want to compete.
Regardless of whether it would be a Swedish Cup, I just want to compete.
I hope that we can have other competitions at home in Sweden that allow me to get started as a biathlete and identify what I need to train extra on, she says.
Anna-Maria Uusitalo, sports director of the biathlon federation, has nevertheless opened up that Nilsson can also be relevant in the World Cup.
- Usually you have to have made certain results at IBU competitions to even be allowed to participate in the World Cup, but now that the IBU is canceled, it is unclear.
There may be some corona exceptions around it, but nothing is certain yet, Uusitalo told TT on Friday.
Nilsson's Swedish competition debut will take place in Idre on 13–15 November.