At the age of 24, Anna Berreiter has already achieved almost everything in luge. But there are tough years behind the Berchtesgaden resident. Now she wants to get started.
The view is focused – Anna Berreiter reaches for the metal handles with her white gloves. She rocks her sled a few times, gathers tension and catapults herself into the ice channel with two or three powerful strokes of the paddle.
The Berchtesgaden resident is preparing for the winter together with the women’s national luge team. Although she has already gone through the starting process hundreds of times, for the new season she wants to tease out more details and therefore hundredths that can make the difference between victory and defeat in the winter: “You really have to go ‘all in’. Everything has to fit. It can Otherwise something could go wrong from one second to the next. That’s why the start right at the beginning of our race is so important for us,” explains Anna Berreiter in an interview with BR24Sport.
From the Young talent to the hope of success
She proved that she can really get started with her Olympic medal in Beijing in 2022. Behind the Bavarian toboggan heroine Natalie Geisenberger, who recently announced the end of her career in Blickpunkt Sport, she surprisingly wins silver. The first European Championship title in Sigulda and the first World Cup title at the home World Cup in Oberhof will follow in 2023. In just three seasons, Anna Berreiter goes from tobogganing chick to world-class athlete – a role that she first has to grow into.
“In my head I’m actually Anna from Berchtesgaden. I do my job. Just like everyone else goes to the office, I go to training, and in winter I race down the ice track,” says Berreiter.
Königssee: Like a snow groomer through the living room
But since 2021, training hasn’t been that easy anymore. Violent storms destroyed the oldest artificial ice rink in the worldthe bobsleigh and toboggan run at Königssee – Berreiters Heimbahn.
“It was like a snowcat had driven through my living room. I thought to myself, what’s going to happen next? I saw the pictures. I cried. So I didn’t even know what was going on now, whether it was really real is,” recalls the 24-year-old.
It is real and is still a bitter reality today. The reconstruction is stagnating and for the silver medalist in Beijing this not only means a lot of extra effort.”It’s also about the in between. Coming home during the season with the family at the track cheering you on. Those are just things that where you draw strength. And even if you’re in a difficult situation, you know, you have people here who support you, then it’s just a lot easier. And that’s missing.”
Everything at “zero”
But Anna Berreiter doesn’t let this get her down – also because she learned to deal with major challenges in 2020. During pre-season training in Latvia, she fell badly during training, was taken to hospital with a serious facial injury and was out for a long time. For a short time her career was even in jeopardy. “The train in Sigulda was associated with fear. And not just the train, the whole place, the whole country. I got off the plane and knew I didn’t want to be here. But you have to tough it out,” said the world champion .
She seeks help and continues to work with a mental trainer to this day. She faced the horror train in Sigulda again just a few weeks later. And conquered the canal – this time without falling. At the European Championships, everything came full circle: in Sigulda, of all places, she won gold in the individual and silver in the relay. It is not only one of her greatest successes, but also proof to herself and everyone else: giving up is not an option for Berreiter. A quality that her coach and Olympic doubles champion Patric Leitner also admires: “She is a fighter, motivated to the core and an absolute competitive type. Whenever it matters, she delivers and performs – and that is what sets her apart. “
The accident, in particular, showed her how to deal with setbacks. Since then, she hasn’t felt any pressure at all. It was even a kind of “redemption”. This freedom should also carry you through the new season. Another home World Cup is coming up, Berreiter wants the title again. She is now laying the foundation for this so that the start of the winter goes smoothly.
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Source: BR24Sport November 8th, 2023 – 6:30 p.m
