Lisa Vittozzi skips the entire season

Lisa Vittozzi skips the whole season

The Italian Winter Sports Federation has announced that Lisa Vittozzi, in agreement with the biathlon team’s technical and medical staff, has decided not to even start the current competitive season. After suffering a back problem at the beginning of the fall, the biathlon World Cup holder was dedicated to treating the injury until a few days ago, resolving it positively.

The subsequent sensations perceived at the resumption of training have, however, convinced Lisa and the technicians not to force the situation, maturing the decision to aim in the coming months at full physical, competitive and mental recovery, in view of the next Olympic season, to which Vittozzi aims to arrive fully competitive.

“I had presented myself at the start of this season with the’enthusiasm and desire to still be a protagonist at the highest level. Unfortunately, the problem suffered at a delicate moment of preparation forced me to stop, and when I started training again with greater intensity, my body could not handle the workloads, albeit minor, that the technicians had prepared. Thereforeò we decided not to force the return to avoid other risks and not to compromise the next months of training, shifting our focus to the Milan-Cortina 2026 races, which represent the real focus of this four-year period”.

Vittozzi, a 29-year-old from Sappada, Friuli, who is a member of the Centro Sportivo Carabinieri, won in 2023/24 the overall World Cup standings that of the individual and the pursuit, the gold medal at the World Championships in Nove Mesto in the individual and three silver medals in the pursuit, mass start and mixed individual relay. In her career she has won 11 World Cup races, 7 individual and 4 relays, and before last year she won two more crystal balls in the individual format, an Olympic bronze in the mixed relay, a world gold in the women’s relay plus 3 silvers and 4 bronze medals in the rainbow.