"Anything can happen." That's what Nicole Schott said at the German Figure Skating Championships in Oberstdorf.
The now seven-time German champion, who was so plagued by long-Covid symptoms in the summer after a corona infection that she "felt really bad".
That was in late July, when her lungs were "as weak as a ninety-year-old's."
Constant coughing fits plagued the skater, who never complained about setbacks on the ice, who will lead the squad of the German Skating Union (DEU) for the European Championships in Espoo (25th to 28th January) in two weeks.
Schott, who won the national championship for the first time in 2011, has long since felt fit and enterprising enough to make higher claims in the Finnish capital's neighboring municipality.
She has overcome her phase of exhaustion and since then she has been running again with the grace and competitive toughness that has always characterized the Essen native, daughter of a former ice hockey pro.
With her programs in Oberstdorf on Friday and Saturday, she nurtured her confidence that she could make the upcoming European Championship a success story in her own right.
So anything can happen now?
Schott does not think about the end of his career
Probably not, because the international competition still seems strong enough to shatter Schott's dream of a medal, even without the Russian quadruple jumpers, who have been suspended because of the Ukraine war.
The German champion openly emphasizes what gives her and her rivals hope in the fight for the best places: "That the level no longer drifts so extremely apart, because this makes the competitive character stronger again".
In front the unbeatable quadruple rotating high-performing Russian children and clearly behind them the young women who don't want to and can't see figure skating primarily as a jumping competition: This recently concreted competition constellation is no longer part of the overall program for the time being.
In any case, Nicole Schott, who has been there for a little while, is full of ambition and still doesn't think about ending her career.
"As long as I enjoy it," she says, "I'll keep going." After the experiences of her painful summer, the tried and tested stylist under no circumstances wants "to get to the point where I need an operation because my body is broken is".
This is one of the reasons why the sports soldier, who lives in Oberstdorf, has limited her weekly workload to five training days and has regularly allowed herself two days off since her long Covid experiences.
"Fun and health are factors that have to be right," says the athlete, who reached a limit six months ago.
In the meantime, Schott, who is one of the extended European leaders, is enjoying her comeback in the arenas.
So soon in Espoo.
The Russian-born Nikita Starostin will also be there for the first time. After years of Berlin rule by Peter Liebers and Paul Fentz, he confirmed his reputation as the new number one in German men's figure skating with a remarkable freestyle and two triple Axels.
In addition, the ice dance champions van Rensburg/Steffan are looking forward to their second participation in the European Championship after defending their national title and are hoping for a place among the top ten.
The pair skating champions Annika Hocke and Robert Kunkel embody the greatest medal hopes of the German participants, who were thrown back into the deep hinterland of figure skating at the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing a year ago.
When they won their first national title, the Berliners made a name for themselves with their sportingly well-supported entertainment qualities with podium places in the international Grand Prix and Challenger competitions and will be competing in Espoo with the similarly successful couple Efimova/Blommaert, who will be in Oberstdorf for a due to the flu infection of former Hocke partner Ruben Blommaert, he was nominated for the European Championship.
"We know that something is possible," says Annika Hocke.
"We also know that all the top couples at the European Championships are at a similar level.
It would also be a blessing for the recently heavily criticized association, which could use a respectable success with the new DEU President Andreas Wagner at the top and the fairly new sports director Claudia Pfeifer on the way back up.
Optimistic like everyone who shone as the new German champions at the weekend, the sports director summed it up: "I'm very happy with what our athletes showed.
It was a foretaste of what is to come.”