Nordic Skiing/Biathlon Thread

[YavorD]

Apparently Sivert Bakken passed away. while in Trentino with team mates.
Honestly hope this is some kind of a horrible joke, but I read it even in NRK.

Edit: Now it's on more and more sources.
Absolutely horrible news, shocking.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Apparently he was found in his hotel room after he didn't show up to a planned skiing session with Tommaso Giacomel. The IBU's official statement mentions that he was diagnosed with myocarditis after his first breakthrough at the World Cup level in 2022 which seems to tilt the balance of probability towards some kind of cardiac issue. Very sudden and unexpected, of course (these things tend to be, when they hit professional athletes in their physical primes like this). I mean, he was only in the flower ceremony of the Le Grand Bornand sprint this time last week and now he's gone. Life is an often frighteningly fragile thing.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

That's very tragic. The other day while watching the German Sports Personality of the Year Awards I went from being happy that Preuß won to sobbing when they did an in memoriam piece for Dahlmeier shortly after, and now this happens. Thankfully for Bakken the athlete he managed to make it back to the World Cup after his health issues, which hopefully means he was generally in a happy state of mind, but even if that hadn't happened he should still have had a lot more living left to do outside of the sport.

 

[Silhouette]

I didn't know him personally but he represented the tiny local club where I live. He was by all accounts a very nice guy. I didn't think he'd be competing again after his heart issues but he worked hard and this year he was back among the best, and now this. Just tragic.