Giant slalom specialist Ellenberger once went through hell: “For the first time in ten years I have no pain.”

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Andrea Ellenberger (30) is back. Back in Are. Here, in the Swedish province of Jämtland, she won gold in the team competition at the World Championships five years ago. She was also the best Swiss woman in the giant slalom with 10th place. The problem: the 30-year-old is now miles away from such success stories.

Your World Cup results this winter read like a horror book. She competed in eight giant slaloms and never scored any points. The reasons for this? ‘You won’t hear the word bad luck from my mouth. It is my own fault for my situation,” she says.

Ellenberger’s misery started last October in Sölden. She narrowly missed the second point in 31st place. A pair of panties – you might think. In fact, it was the beginning of her negative spiral. What followed next? Ellenberger cramped, flew violently during training, suffered from the consequences of the fall (“When I was exercising, I felt sick, I sometimes saw stars”), barely failed in the comeback again and at one point coordination of the material is no longer possible. no longer right. “An incredible amount of bad things have happened,” she says.

Climbing stairs was torture

In Are, Ellenberger gets one last chance to save her winter. “I believe one hundred percent in a turnaround. Because I haven’t even come close to achieving my potential. And above all, for the first time in ten years, I no longer have any pain.”

What sounds crazy is true. Ellenberger suffered three cruciate ligament tears in her career, had to have a vertebra stiffened and an intervertebral disc removed. “The question was then whether I would still be able to walk. Just walking up the stairs was torture. Only thanks to the Thun back center can I now practice top sport again without complaints,” she reflects.

She has a psychology degree to her name

Ellenberger has been through a lot in her life; The death of her beloved father Manfred a year and a half ago also hit her hard. But she never thought about giving up, even now. Striking: her main sponsor “Chrampfcheibe” fits her skiing history like a glove. “Andrea is an extremely hard worker,” says Rémy Blättler. He is the owner of the employment agency and has known Ellenberger for years; his son Yannick went to school with her. “I wish Andrea would take one out in Are. I know she can do it. It would be great if the button came off,” says Blättler.

The woman from Nidwalden wants nothing more. And what if it doesn’t work? ‘Then I’ll continue working. Dismissal is not an option. I am also completely ready in my head.” You should know: Ellenberger successfully completed a degree in psychology during the time when she could not exercise. “When I’m done skiing, I’ll have something in hand.”

“What I’m going through isn’t the end of the world.”

The fighter from Hergiswil NW does not want to complain. On the contrary. She looks at Blättler and says: “What I’m going through is not the end of the world. «Rémy, you have had poor health for 30 years and are now seriously disabled. But I’ve never heard you complain: you accept your fate and make the best of it.”

Ellenberger does just that. And who knows, she might be rewarded for this in Are – like at the golden World Cup in 2019.

Source : Blick