Lisa Vittozzi, nightmare over: “Difficult period, now I feel better. I can start again”

Bologna, 15 April 2025 – It was unable to defend the World Cup won in 2024, but is now ready to prepare for the Milan Cortina Olympics and go hunting for medals. Lisa Vittozzi is about to return. The biathlete from Sappada has overcome the back problems that stopped her last winter, she had to skip the entire World Cup season, and now the Olympic journey begins, with summer preparation and autumn finishing touches to be ready for the start of the new season. Recently turned thirty, Lisa is determinedly aiming for the Italian Olympics, in Anterselva which is the home of Italian biathlon, to go hunting for a gold that is missing from her palmares. She has obtained two victories at the world championships (relay in Oberhof 2023 and individual in Nove Mesto in 2024), but at the Olympics she only boasts a bronze with the mixed relay in PyeongChang 2018. But today Lisa is different, she has significant growth behind her, new awareness and above all a general World Cup in the trophy cabinet. The time for the big target has come.  

Vittozzi: “I am ready and calm”

Before stopping, Vittozzi she was the athlete to beat, the best in the world, with the World Cup won in 2024 to seal a clear maturity, a mentality rediscovered after a difficult period. She worked hard to get to that level and seeing her career stopped due to a back problem was a bad blow to overcome. After months of stoppage, now the physical problems have been overcome and the chase to Milan-Cortina begins. Vittozzi there is: “It was a difficult period, I didn't expect it because the preparation had gone very well – her words at the Fisi media day – I was improving some aspects compared to the previous year and I was ready to defend the cup, but in November there was the problem with my back and I was completely blocked”. The initial plan of Vittozzi was to try anyway, maybe entering the race later, but in December he understood that it was better to stop and throw in the towel: "I tried to hold on, but my back wouldn't let me go on. There was too much pain and so I thought about the Olympic season, which was the most important one. Not being able to express my full potential, there was no point in continuing with the pain". Now that the problem has been overcome, Vittozzi can calmly plan the next season. The body is already responding well and in fact the preparation has already begun: "I feel better, my body responds to the work and I feel more serene. Before I had many doubts and I was worried about the fact that for the first time I had to watch an entire season from the couch". And this type of injury, once overcome, provides that awareness useful to move forward: "I learned to listen to my body and I understood that I really love this sport. In the life of an athlete, rest is also important and now I can start again". Read also - Bottle against Van der Poel at Roubaix: the reactions