As a three-time junior world champion, Amy Baserga has already experienced huge success. What’s more, the 23-year-old made a successful leap to the elite category surprisingly quickly. Her next major goals are the home World Cup in Lenzerheide (14 to 17 December) and the Biathlon World Championships in Nove Mesto (14 to 17 March).

At the end of November, you started off the new season with a strong 12th place in the 15 km individual race. After a long summer, how much of a relief is it to know that you can keep up with the best from the start of the season?

It’s cool to start off like that. In the individual race, it's not always easy to find the right rhythm and sometimes you set off too slow or fast. After ending up somewhat left behind in last year’s race, I wanted to approach it slightly faster this time. It paid off and I was able to keep up the pace right through to the end.

This shows that focusing on your performance over summer is already bearing fruit. In the biathlon, does one discipline suffer if you focus more intensively on the other? 

No. Focusing more on the skating over summer meant investing more time in that but not less time in shooting.

What do you consider to be the three most important keys to success for you as an athlete?

Three doesn’t cover it - there are so many more (laughs). Of course, discipline at all levels, including in your personal life, is important as well as enjoyment, consistency and, above all, trust in yourself and what you're doing.

What does a typical training week in summer look like for a biathlete?

In summer, training begins at 8:30 at the shooting range. It starts with around 60 basic shots, then complex training involving roller skiing combined with bouts of shooting. In the afternoon, it’s either around two hours of roller skiing or jogging, then gymnastics, Blackroll massage, mental training and office time in the evening. I'll go to bed around half ten. 

And a week in winter?

That depends on whether you are competing and what time the races take place as that changes for every competition. Sometimes the women start first, sometimes it’s the men. Typically, everything throughout the season is tailored towards the next competition. That might look slightly different for a relay compared to pursuit. The training is about getting used to the setup and staying active. There aren’t many tough training sessions outside of the competitions - it’s mostly easier sessions. You also need to clean your rifle, visualise the area and routines such as skating into the stadium, pulling out your rifle, laying down, etc. 

Do you have an insider tip you would be willing to share with us?

There isn’t really one sole insider tip. You can only be successful in elite sport if all of the different pieces of the puzzle fit perfectly together. For us biathletes, it’s important to stay healthy throughout the season. This means changing into warm clothes right after training, eating the right food and, most importantly, getting plenty of sleep so that you can recover properly and not get sick.

Winter and cross-country ski races are right around the corner. What should amateur athletes consider when preparing?

For a technical sport like cross-country skiing, hard work is naturally important and you should train on snow as much as possible. You should also regularly vary your pace; sometimes it's better to skate more slowly than always going fast. I think it’s great that so many people enjoy cross-country skiing even if we sometimes have to slalom on the piste (laughs).

Photo: KEYSTONE