During last year’s biathlon season premiere in Idre, Sweden, Anna-Karin Heijdenberg had her breakthrough. A year later, she’s ready for the season premiere, now as part of the Swedish national team.

Just about a year ago, Anna-Karin Heijdenberg came more or less out of nowhere when she finished second in the sprint during the season-opening competitions in Idre. At that time, the Swedish biathlete couldn’t even qualify for the World Cup.

Why? She had never started an IBU Cup, which is the level just below the World Cup.

That marked the beginning of a successful breakthrough season for Anna-Karin, who secured an individual podium spot in the IBU Cup and finished in 15th place at the World Cup finale in Canada.

Also Read: How the Swedish biathlon team fared in the test race

Impressed in Test Races

Now, she has completed her first training season with the Swedish national team and has continued to develop.

“It’s been a good training summer. I feel ready for the season opener. I’ve continued to increase my training volume, and it feels like I’m still building up,” she told ProXCskiing.com’s sister site Langd.se.

It seems Anna-Karin’s development has continued upward. During a training race this fall, she finished second, only beaten by Elvira Öberg, with the rest of the national team behind her.

How much do you take from, for example, that training race?

“All the test races and summer biathlon championships we do during the training season are training to compete. I take with me the fact that I can perform well with a race bib on. After all, that’s what counts in winter, and it doesn’t matter how well you can do in a single interval session during the summer. It’s just part of the journey, but with a bib on, that’s when we need to perform. So, I really take with me that I can do it.”

The story continues below.

Goal: 2026 Olympics

At the end of last season, she got to try out the World Cup. It’s something she wants to do more of this season.

“I want to compete as much as possible in the World Cup and gain experience from it. I’ve only competed there for a few weekends before, and it would be fun to be there all the time.”

Do you think you can continue making such big strides as you have over the past year?

“If you think about the progress I’ve made over the past year, I can’t expect to make such big steps every year in the future. But I absolutely believe there’s more. I see in training that there are details I can work more on. There are girls on the team who are even stronger, and I believe I can definitely become as strong as them.”

What are your goals?

“There’s an Olympics in a year and a half, and I want to be there. If I continue as I am now, I think I have a good chance,” she concluded.

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