Biathlon | Caroline Colombo, still hampered by neuropathy more than a year after it started: “My open ankle fracture was nothing compared to what I’m going through”

Biathlon: Caroline Colombo talks to Nordic Magazine

On Friday afternoon, after a few sessions of cross-country skiing on the snowfarm in Bessans (Savoie), 28-year-old biathlete Caroline Colombo left the French B team’s final preparation camp. Still suffering from the symptoms of a nasty neuropathy that she has been battling since the end of summer 2023, the Meuthiarde biathlete with two collective World Cup podiums actually took to her car to undergo further medical examinations.

Caroline Colombo took the time to answer some questions from Nordic Magazine on the way here, to give us an update after six months’ preparation. Interview.

• Last May, you told us in our columns that you’d been able to resume training even though the neuropathy, which was fading, was still there: how have things been for you since then?

The neuropathy is still there. I’ve been able to train properly, but intermittently because of the symptoms. They have to be managed on a day-to-day basis. It’s been a bit complicated, but I’ve still been able to train well, more than I thought I would this summer. In the autumn, on the other hand, there were a few worries, the result of all that and the good summer… That’s why I wasn’t able to race in Prémanon at the first Summer Tour.

• After that, what happened to you?

Then it was much better in October and I was able to do a great course in Antholz with a good workload. I arrived at the Summer Tour d’Arçon tired. Since then, I’ve had a lack of recovery because my body is different and I don’t know it perfectly yet. I’m more reactive because I’m suddenly out of shape… It’s complicated to manage.

• In the spring, you also said that you wanted to get back to a normal training rhythm by doing more qualitative rather than quantitative work: despite the neuropathy, have you been able to put this in place as you had imagined?

As I could no longer choose between quality and quantity, I did indeed favour quality, which was a good thing. After that, it was intermittent and I had to manage it almost all the time. I’m not as well trained as in previous years, that’s for sure, but perhaps I need less quantity at 28 than when I was young. The most important thing, but also the most difficult, is to manage the symptoms.

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• Are the symptoms of your illness changing?

It’s always the same: a burning sensation in the legs and the slightly permanent tiredness that goes with it. It’s complicated to have burning legs without doing anything when you’re a top-level sportswoman…

• You have been suffering from neuropathy for over a year now, a condition that is very difficult to cure…

It’s set in… Nerves take a very, very, very long time and it can take years to heal completely. After that, we don’t really know because there’s absolutely no hindsight. I have to go abroad to get medical reports because there’s no neuropathy in top-level sport. Everyone who has had neuropathy has had to stop their career. So I don’t have any references. It’s a really complicated thing to deal with. I feel like I’m in a medical desert with no answers to my questions, and that’s probably the hardest thing to cope with. If I were a normal person, it wouldn’t be complicated, it would just sting my legs going up the stairs and it wouldn’t be pleasant at night… I could live with it, but it’s the athletic side that makes it difficult for me and accentuates the symptoms.

• You can imagine that it’s mentally complicated…

From a sporting point of view, it’s probably been the hardest year of my life. I have the impression that my open ankle fracture was nothing compared to what I’m going through now. This year, I’m being very well looked after by Baptiste Desthieux. He’s been really kind to me. He helps me to look after my health and my head before looking after my sporting performance. That’s rare for a trainer, and I’m glad to have him. These aren’t the best moments in my sporting life, but I have other pillars in my life and I try to build on that too.

• How are you feeling at the moment?

I hope that the medical appointments I’m going to make will allow me to race this year… Being at my best is what matters to me! I don’t want to start the season at 70 or 80% of my ability, I really want to start the winter close to my maximum so that I can express myself fully without being in the race washing machine without having the opportunity to re-train and re-prepare.

• Will you be at the start of the selection races for the IBU Cup next week?

I don’t know, it’s still up for discussion… I’m going to see how things go at the beginning of next week [when I get back from the medical tests]. At the moment, I’m on a treatment that’s helping to reduce the symptoms, but it’s making me very tired and putting on weight. These are clearly two complicated things when you’re a top-level sportswoman. At the moment, I feel I’m at 60, 70%, which is a long way from my high potential. I know it can come back very quickly because, when I’m well, symptom-free and fresh, things go really well… During the course at Antholz with Justine [Braisaz-Bouchet], it was really good! I know I can have a very good level when the symptoms go away.

• If you see that the situation is not moving in the right direction in the next few weeks or months, will you persist for long?

As long as I respect my body and have the opportunity to continue, I’ll do it because I really believe in my chances. I had a great season two years ago and I feel I still have room for improvement. I’ve had a thorn in my side with this neuropathy that’s preventing me from expressing myself fully and continuing to progress. And then, of course, there’s the end of my career… I think about it, but I try not to think about it too much because I’ve still got the fire in me at the moment. After a while, if I push myself too hard, I feel the flame could go out. If it does, it won’t matter, I’ll be ready to move on. But that’s not the case at the moment.

• For the past year, you’ve been going through some very difficult times that few people can understand: how are you coping?

It took four or five months to diagnose it, and during that time I was treated like a madwoman, being told that it was all in my head, that all the symptoms were psychological… It was the most complicated period of my life. When you say your legs are burning and they tell you it’s in your head, it’s really very complicated. I’m glad to have a name for what’s happening to me, because I couldn’t have gone on like this. I’m not known for being a sissy in this business and it was really the hardest thing I’ve ever had to go through when I was told it was all in my head. In any case, there’s a name for it, there are things that help me understand what I’ve got and the people who work with me understand it too.

• You seem emotional when you look back on this period…

Not necessarily, I’m fine now, I just have a little voice [laughs]! I live with it, I’ve got enough distance and maturity to understand what’s happening to me and to evolve healthily with my mind in my discipline. I feel that I haven’t expressed everything in biathlon. That’s why I’m giving it my all to continue and succeed for another year or two.

• Stéphane Bouthiaux explains Caroline Colombo’s absence from the World Cup: “She is a victim of chronic fatigue”.
• Caroline Colombo’s diagnosis: “It’s neuropathy”.
• “My condition is progressing and the symptoms are diminishing”: how is Caroline Colombo, France’s big absentee at the start of the winter?
• “23/24 will be a blank season for me”: Caroline Colombo announces the end of her winter season
• What Caroline Colombo had to say after announcing her season off due to neuropathy: “I feel like it’s going to help me turn a corner, especially emotionally”.
• “At some point, you have to make choices”: Chloé Chevalier, Caroline Colombo and Paula Botet, logical drop-outs from group A to group B in the French team
• Antonin Guigonnat, Caroline Colombo, Emilien Claude… the French B team is in training at Prémanon
• My Paris 2024 Games : Caroline Colombo