Lausanne / Switzerland

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In the weeks following her third sobering injury in the space of five years German Short Track Speed Skater Anna Seidel found herself questioning her future in the sport she has been devoted to since the age of nine.

Anna Seidel GER ESTSS 2021International Skating Union ISU 1230752663

Anna Seidel (GER) at the ISU European Short Track Speed Skating Championships 2021©International Skating Union ISU

In the weeks following her third sobering injury in the space of five years German Short Track Speed Skater Anna Seidel found herself questioning her future in the sport she has been devoted to since the age of nine.

That she is now contemplating a ninth successive campaign at the very highest level, a season that may well hold an appearance at her third consecutive Olympic Games, is testament to a range of critical factors, not least the team of mental health professionals she has around her.

“At the beginning you ask yourself the questions, ‘Why is it me again? Why has it happened again? Could I have maybe done something wrong?’,” Seidel said of the days after she fractured her tibia and fibula in a serious training accident just before the 2021 ISU World Short Track Speed Skating Championships in Dordrecht.

“It became the toughest injury so far I’ve had.”

That is saying something. In June 2016 Seidel broke the 12th vertebra in her neck. Following surgery to insert metal pins into her neck she was out of action for four painful months. Then in early 2020 she suffered an avulsion fracture to her fibula while racing on her home ice in Dresden. It was more than enough to end her season early.

Seidel learned early that she could not and should not deal with the impact of such misfortune on her own.

“I am a person who always needs to talk about it a lot. I can’t just sit there with it myself and trust,” the 23-year-old said.

Rehab was particularly difficult this time around with the 2014 and 2018 Olympian reckoning herself to be in the “best shape of her life” during the 2020/21 season. The results back up such an assertion: Seidel claimed overall and 1500m silver plus 1000m bronze at the 2021 European Championships.

Anna Seidel GER wins 1500m silver medal ESTSS 2021International Skating Union ISU 1230747800

Anna Seidel (GER) wind silver in the 1500m at the ISU European Short Track Speed Skating Championships 2021©International Skating Union ISU

Thankfully, she had her support network in place. As well as family and friends, Seidel had two mental health professionals to turn to. One on Zoom and one within walking – or, more accurately, hobbling – distance.

“The one in Dresden, I was working a lot with at the beginning. I could go there. It meant I had something to do especially when I was still on crutches,” Seidel said with a smile breaking into her voice.

“I think the bad phases would have been much longer (without their support). I couldn’t have overcome them that fast. It was not a nice summer but I learned a lot and I would say I grew a lot too.”

For the past four weeks Seidel has finally been able to train at full pace on the ice. After months of working on her core and upper body – areas she would “otherwise have ignored” – she does feel strong but is missing the miles in her legs.

It has left her unsure of what sort of form she will be in when she heads out to China and Japan for the opening World Cup events of a season she thinks will be her last. The focus is to qualify for her final Olympic Games.

The prospect of continuing on to Milan-Cortina in 2026, and the possibility of facing more rehab, is just too much to contemplate. Indeed “a normal, boring university life” seems incredibly appealing to Seidel right now.

However, for a skater who already has one Olympic medal in her pocket – a 2016 Youth Olympic Games 1000m bronze – the competitive fires do still burn brightly. And armed with all the mental fortitude she has learned in the past five years, she is not ruling out a grandstand finish.

“All the girls are so close together right now. The fitness levels are so good from everyone that now it is also the head that decides who is going to win,” Seidel said.

“And there is so much you can improve with mental (health) stuff and believing in yourself.”