Italian biathlon star Tommaso Giacomel went through a lot in the past months. His dream season was halted by a heart condition that forced him out of the fight for gold at the Olympics and the Total Score in the World Cup, weeks after one of his best friends, Sivert Guttorm Bakken, passed away in December. The 26-year-old underwent an operation on February 24th and slowly returned to training during Spring, feeling like everything is responding well, so that he is hopeful for the season to come. When we reached him at the end of May, he had just finished a 27-hour training load in five days, for which he was very pleased.

Return to training after heart procedure

“I started training later than I had hoped”, the Italian tells us: “I had surgery on February 24 and I thought, ‘Damn, by mid-March I’ll already be back training properly.’ But between all the sponsor and institutional commitments, April was hectic as always. In the end, I really started training well again around mid-April. In the last two weeks I added some pretty intense sessions and everything felt good, so from there it’s been back to normal.”

From that point on, his training routine gradually returned to normal.

“I honestly don’t think much will change. I realised I was able to get back to training well and feeling strong quite quickly. I think I’ll be able to train properly this summer, just like every other year.”

The moment he understood the season was over

Biathlon fans held their breath when the big screen showed a devastated Giacomel sitting trackside after being forced to retire from the Olympic mass start, which he had been leading at the halfway mark. However, for the Italian the weeks that followed were even more difficult to manage emotionally.

“That period was a nightmare, even if I still hoped I could come back and fight for the World Cup. When I was in the surgery room and the doctor told me, ‘We found the problem, now we’ll burn it away,’ that’s when I understood it was really over.”

The operation lasted 25 minutes and was successful. During the procedure, Giacomel watched on a screen as doctors mapped his heart and searched the area causing the Fibrillation, which was eventually found and burnt.

"They were stimulating them to see their reaction, so my heart rate was going from 50 to 160, then it suddenly went to 232 and I started at the doctor telling him that my chest was going to explode. That’s when he told me they had found the problem.”

The mental recovery

“Honestly, right now I’m doing well because I’ve managed to put what happened behind me,” he admitted during our chat. But he did not shy away from speaking about how difficult his time in hospital was.

“I struggled to believe what had happened. I almost never miss races, and suddenly I was lying in a hospital bed watching them on TV. That felt surreal. But once I went home, I was lucky to have a family who loves me and a very special girlfriend. They helped me understand that my health matters much more than racing.”

And this was a hard lesson that flashed twice in his life last winter, as in December his good friend Sivert Bakken passed away during a training camp.

“This season had incredibly high highs and incredibly low lows. I still struggle to accept that Sivert is gone because he was someone I spoke with almost every day and a truly sincere friend. What happened to me is nothing compared to losing him. It’s not even close.”

Part of the mental recovery and the acceptance of his situation was also returning to the World Cup finals in Oslo as a spectator.

“It definitely did me good. It was nice because people had seen me leave Antholz in an ambulance, so being back in Oslo and seeing all my friends and coaches again was a beautiful moment.”

The end of the Olympic cycle at home

Ahead of the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics, Giacomel repeatedly said that his main goal was the overall World Cup title even more than Olympic gold. It was something that surprised many, especially since not many athletes have the chance to ever compete on home Olympics. Now that a new Olympic cycle starts and will lead to the French Alps in four years, Giacomel has not changed his mind.

“Honestly, I’m happy that the whole build-up to the home Olympics is finally starting to wind down. Whether the Olympics are in Italy or somewhere else in the world doesn’t really change much for me. I still slept well at night. It never overwhelmed me. But it did get tiring constantly answering the same questions: ‘What do you think about the Olympics in Italy? What do you expect?’ And I’ll probably give the exact same answers when it’s time for the Olympics in France.”