Instead of a declaration of resignation, handbike champion Walter Ablinger presented a narrowly defined competition calendar for the 2022 season in a media interview on Thursday evening. After a training accident in autumn last year, there were serious considerations about ending his career, but after a three-week training camp in Lanzarote at the latest, the 52-year-old from the Innviertel region now feels mentally and physically fit for a comeback.
“The fire hasn’t gone out yet,” says the two-time Paralympic winner, whose Olympic thoughts revolve around the 2024 Summer Games in Paris. Season highlights this year are the European Championships in Upper Austria at the end of May and the World Championships in Canada in mid-August. Ablinger wants to reprogram the mental set-up on the (who knows how long) home stretch of his career and put enjoyment in the foreground. “I don’t need to win anything anymore and I don’t have any pressure to prove anything to anyone.” The new main sponsor, which he will soon present, should not mind if Austria’s disabled athlete of the year 2021 continues to collect medals, but that is not the basis of the contract. Ablinger is also a role model with no expiry date for the sporting region of Upper Austria. “We will continue to accompany him on his mission. With his will and his positive charisma, he is an inspiration for many people,” says Sports Councilor Markus Achleitner.
Ablinger’s planned start of the season is the Neusiedlersee Cycle Marathon on April 24th, the Handbike World Cup begins two weeks later in Ostend (Bel).
Source: Nachrichten
