To talk about chances and possibilities it’s usually good to look at some facts and take an objective view. I came 27th and 25th in EOC long distance 2014 and 2016. So, I qualified for these events but both years I was struggling with some injury problems before and during the test races as well as at EOC. I would say my shape is slightly better now but again I am having some pain in my body, calf is the issue this time.
On the other hand, I was number 8 in the test races last spring but didn’t make the team of 9 people for the first World Cup round. This shows how high the hurdle is set from the coaches and I cannot say that their decisions strengthen my self-confidence during the last couple of years.
In the end, I think it is all about this self-confidence. There are many runners, who try to get a spot at home champs with some young upcoming athletes as well. At the test races, there is a new competition format with a sprint-rerun (getting one hour to analyze the results/GPS from the morning as well as the possibility to enter the terrain again and then rerun the same course in the afternoon), there will be tuff forest races with a lot of climb and there will be a lot of pressure and nervousness around. So, if I want to have a chance and recommend myself for a spot at EOC in need to focus on my own work and stand at the start with a lot of self-confidence so that I can reach my optimal performance. If I succeed doing that, the chances are high to run around in Ticino in the beginning of May, wearing a red Suisse kit.
Test races:
2. April: 5000m
6. April: Sprint + Sprint-rerun
7. April: Middle distance
8. April: Long distance
© 2016 Raffael Huber