Biathlon overall World Cup winner Franziska Preuß remains tight-lipped about a possible end to her career after the upcoming Olympic season.
“I’m an active athlete now and nothing will be different for me until February,” emphasized the 31-year-old in an interview with “xc-ski.de”: “That’s why I don’t want to waste any energy on such thoughts at the moment. I now see myself 100 percent as an athlete.” There’s no point in “talking about it because it’s just a waste of energy.”
In an interview with “Olympics.org”, Preuß recently indicated that she had been thinking about her sporting future in the summer, but she did not want to give a clear answer to this question.
“For me personally, I already know what happens next. But now my focus is clearly on February and then we’ll just see what happens next,” said the 2024/25 overall World Cup winner.
Franziska Preuß, who has now completely recovered from an injury to her hand, doesn’t want to worry too much about the Olympics anyway. She didn’t want to announce a goal for the games; Preuß is “not a fan” of that. She wants to see in the short term “what is realistic.”
World Cup title “almost goes down a bit”
She is therefore firmly focused on the start of the World Cup in Östersund (November 29th): “You can’t get to the Olympics without qualifying, so that’s the first step that has to be taken. I’m looking from week to week and I’m happy that it’s starting again.”
Defending the overall World Cup title is one of the biggest goals of the season. She also ranks her Grand Crystal Globe higher than her World Championship Pursuit victory. “I don’t even have that on my radar. It’s almost a bit lost,” said Preuß, who only prevailed in a dramatic finish against Frenchwoman Lou Jeanmonnot on the last World Cup weekend.
Her hand injury hardly set her back in preparation. “Some injuries also have a positive side, you set different priorities. Being sick is much more stupid than being injured. You have to keep physically fit. I think I’m even at a good level again in terms of my upper body strength and I’m very confident,” explained the biathlete, who is now doing “a few more reduced training days” before the start.