The Italian biathlete Tommaso Giacomel caused a shocking moment at the Winter Olympics in his home country when he had to stop the mass start in the middle of the race because of heart problems. The ski hunter now looked back again, but already has his comeback firmly in mind.
Tommaso Giacomel still has memories of the biathlon mass start in Antholz. In what was probably the most important race for ski hunters at the Olympic Winter Games in Italy, the 25-year-old suddenly had to give up completely exhausted after being in the lead after the second shooting. “I almost felt like I was suffocating,” Giacomel said in retrospect in the “Corriere dello Sport”: “My heart was racing.”
The Italians’ top ski hunter was subsequently diagnosed with a heart defect in hospital, which he has lived with since birth. An operation was now unavoidable.
Biathlon professional Giamcomel: “Next year I will attack again”
After the successful operation and a subsequent rest period, Giacomel was able to pass the medical tests. “I started moving again about 20 days ago, cycling and skiing. I feel good physically and as if nothing had happened,” said the Italian, pleased about the rapid progress: “Of course I wasn’t in shape to think about competing.”
There should be no further moments of shock in the future. According to his own statement, his doctors had assured the biathlon star “that they would do everything to enable me to return.”
By abandoning the race in the Olympic mass start, Tommaso Giacomel missed the last World Cup trimester and thus missed the chance for the overall title, which ultimately went to the Frenchman Eric Perrot. He now says combatively: “My dreams have just shifted. Next year I will attack again.”
