Wolfgang Pichler, who was a successful national captain for the Swedish biathlon national team, had a heart attack just over two weeks ago.

He was placed in an artificial coma and after an extremely tough period, he has to leave the hospital today.

- It is okay.

It's going in the right direction.

Today I leave the hospital.

But then I have to go to rehab next week and there they will show me what I will do in the future.

But it looks good.

I was lucky, he says when SVT Sport reaches him by phone.

How has time been since that happened?

- It has been very tough.

I was in a coma for three days.

But the positive thing was that I was so fit, it helped me.

At first no one knew what my brain was like, they thought I was dead.

The police came to my wife and said that I might have died.

Nobody knew, but I was lucky, says Pichler.

"Maybe too tough for a 65-year-old"

The German is currently working on the Swedish Olympic Committee's project "Olympic offensive".

This includes trying to make Sweden competitive in winter sports where you are not at the moment.

- The last thing I remember is that I trained with the national skating school team, for which I am responsible.

My plan was to show them around Ruhpolding, where there are really good bike routes.

After about 60 kilometers together I fell and then I do not remember anymore.

- Maybe it was too tough for a 65-year-old.

I may be too optimistic.

What do you think about your future now?

- I'm going back to work.

This morning I talked about the next training camp with Joel Eriksson (coach for the national skating school team).

I am very motivated to do something.

It's going in the right direction.

The next thing is to build a skate.

Then skeleton and toboggan.

The ladies' ski jumping also looks good.

It's sad to do nothing.

We should be able to win medals at the 2026 Olympics, or at least fight for the medals.

"Did not think I was so popular"

But maybe you should skip 60 kilometers by bike?

- I will cycle, but slowly.

I will not compete.

At 65, it's maybe a little silly, I've learned that.

I will train normally.

Pichler also says that very many friends, including from the sports world, heard about it when the heart attack became known.

- That was unbelievable.

My brother took care of the media part and I received as many emails as I wanted, like 150 pieces.

The first week, my brother did everything.

There were big reactions, even in Germany.

I did not think I was so popular, that it was so important, says the coach.

CLIP: Wolfgang Pichler's career in Swedish biathlon

Javascript is disabled

Javascript must be turned on to play video

Read more about browser support

The browser is not supported

SVT does not support playback in your browser.

We therefore recommend that you switch to another browser.

Read more about browser support

Wolfgang Pichler's career in Swedish biathlon