Onwards and upwards for biathlete Fleig

“My goal for the upcoming season is to do the best that I can do in every competition and who knows, maybe I could reach the overall World Cup podium again.”

Germany’s Martin Fleig is approaching the 2015-16 season with renewed vigour following his first career podium finish at the 2015 IPC Nordic Skiing World Championships.

The 25-year-old sealed bronze in the men’s middle distance biathlon sitting in Cable, USA, going on to secure third place in overall World Cup biathlon rankings thanks to a win at the Finals in Surnadal, Norway.

The German, who debuted in 2006, will be increasing his workload on the slopes this summer to build on his recent success, setting out his goals for build-up to the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Paralympic Games:

“I would like to put in some more hours per week into my training until the Paralympics in 2018. For this summer I already plan to do more hours of training than I did in the last season.

“My goal for the upcoming season is to do the best that I can do in every competition and who knows, maybe I could reach the overall World Cup podium again.”

Despite Cable 2015 being his first top three finish, Fleig was confident that he was going to win a medal.

“In the past I was able to get near to the podium and so I went to the Worlds with a feeling of certainty that if I had a perfect day, I could get a medal,” he said.

At just 25, this was Fleig’s fourth World Championship and he admits that the courses in Cable were one of the toughest he has been on:

“The courses were very exhausting. There were plenty of technical parts and the heavy hills were difficult to climb up and slide down but I really like these courses.”

His teammate, Paralympic and world champion Andrea Eskau, also had a successful season after she won the women’s middle and short distance sitting events at the World Championships. Eskau is one of Fleig’s close friends and gave him the push to go on and succeed this season.

“I remember that Andrea told me in Cable one or two days before I won bronze: ‘Your time is coming, I can feel it.’ That made me feel very special and it pushed me to go further,” he said.

“She is a really exceptional athlete. She is working on a high level and she always knows what she is able to do. For me, she is a good friend and she is definitely important at times especially for keeping relaxed before the races.”

Fleig has also pledged that he will be competing in more cross country events next season after positive results in Cable where he narrowly missed out on a medal in the middle distance.

“I have competed in a lot of cross country skiing races in the past and I am sure that I will continue to compete in more in the future.”