In a dark place in those races! (photo: Getty Sport)

The Olympics are amazing because they feel like a really big deal, especially when you’re there. There’s rings and Bing Dwen Dwens everywhere and tons of staff and attention. This makes it a great event, but also amplifies any results you have. It makes winning that much better, and losing that much worse. I had a great time, don’t get me wrong!! But I was still super bummed to not race as well as I thought I could. It’s not easy to line everything up to be fast at the right time, and for me it just didn’t really work out.

I got sick over Christmas, and raced the Tour de Ski before I was fully healthy because 1. I thought I could recover during the tour and 2. I thought I needed a few more points to secure my Olympic spot. I didn’t know the World Cups in France would be canceled, so it turned out I didn’t need points, but I didn’t know that at the time! In hindsight, I wouldn’t have raced the tour, but that’s easy to say now. I didn’t feel like I got fully healthy before the Olympics. I had some good workouts at our pre-camp in Livigno, but the dry altitude in China seemed to aggravate anything that was still hanging out in my lungs.

Sucking pond water: Relay day. (photo: Getty Sport)

I’m describing all this partly because I feel accountable for taking up a coveted Olympic team spot, and want to be clear that I did everything in my power to be at my best, and thought I did alright. I’m proud of myself for taking advantage of this opportunity with everything I had; but, when I started racing, my lungs were still that couple percent off, and at altitude at this level, that means a lot.

Putting this on to keep it real. This shit sucks!!!!!

What I learned from this is to take illnesses more seriously (especially when I haven’t been sick for a couple years!), even if it means sacrificing something that seems so important. I’d rather be really good in the long run than mediocre because I did damage to my body. Because of this I’ve decided to stop racing with lungs that don’t feel perfect, and go home. I’m still going to U23s because it was logistically super hard to get a good itinerary from China, and because I want to see my U23 teammates in Norway! I’ll race the sprint and possibly relay if I feel alright there, but I’m not too worried about performance there. Then after that I’m going home to fully recover, and hit the reset for next season!

My goal is to get rested and healthy in time to train hard for next year, and Milano Cortina in 4 years! I know I have the tools and capability to have a much different Olympic racing experience there, and I want to start that journey from a clean, healthy slate.

Thinking about rest and restarting the road to next season. :)

Thanks to everyone for supporting me though a tough middle of the season, and I’m stoked to come back next year stronger than ever! I’m also very thankful to my teammates, coaches, wax techs, massage/PT peeps, and other staff that made the Olympics and the whole season so smooth! We couldn’t do it without you.