No one thought she would match the World biathlon stars. Now she is beating them – time and time again. A comment from her coach changed everything.

The 28-year-old from Norway caused this year’s biggest upset at the Blink Festival in early August. There, she defeated the entire World Cup elite in the shooting duel, with stops down to just 12 seconds – in the same range as super talent Martin Uldal.

The outsider, Eline Grue, outclassed big names such as France’s Lou Jeanmonnot, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, Italy’s comeback-kid Lisa Vittozzi, and the entire Norwegian national team.

A week later, she followed up at the Swedish Summer Biathlon Championships. In the short individual race, Grue went straight to the podium after beating stars such as Hanna Öberg, Linn Gestblom (formerly Persson), Anna Magnusson, and Johanna Skottheim. Only Elvira Öberg and Ella Halvarsson were better than the skier from the private team Holmenkollen Biathlon.

Got the answer in Sweden

For Grue, the results from the Swedish Championships mean more than Blink.

“When you’re not on the national team, it can be a long time between opportunities to measure yourself against the best in the world. So, it was really fun to do so well there,” Grue told Langrenn.com.

She points out that roller ski races, where everyone competes on the same equipment, provide a good benchmark.

“These results show that what I’ve done this summer is working, and that the level I’m at now can match the very best in the world,” says Grue.

“Now I’ll just keep training well, so I can make my mark in the competitions coming this winter. That will be really fun,” says the biathlete.

So, what happened? Why is this happening now? Last year, she quit full-time dedication. That turned out to change everything.

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On the verge of quitting

Now, Grue is bursting with motivation. That’s in stark contrast to where she was just a year ago.

In March 2024, she was seriously fed up. Grue started working after the season ended, and last autumn, she decided to give up full-time dedication, move to Trondheim, and resume her studies.

“For me, it’s important to have something besides sport that I also have to prioritize, something else that’s important,” she explains.

“It’s good to feel progress and mastery in other areas of life, because in elite sport there can be long periods where you’re just ‘stuck’.”

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The turning point

When Grue began studying full-time, everything fell into place. She took her first Norwegian Cup victory in more than two years and won the overall Norwegian Cup.

“I rediscovered the joy of doing biathlon again. It was a real breakthrough season. I performed better because I felt better, but really it was against all odds,” she says, continuing:

“I trained at inconvenient times, and I had to adapt my training to my class schedule for the first time in my life. I had always seen that as something negative. I felt that if you did that, you weren’t really committed.”

Was it scary to make that change?

“Yes. It was a bit uncomfortable.”

But in retrospect, she hasn’t regretted it for a moment.

“Training became much more spontaneous and playful, and much more in tune with my body. I pushed when I had energy, and I’m not afraid to challenge myself and stretch the limits, because I know there will be periods when I can recover. It’s much less rigid and much more fun.”

A comment from her coach changed everything

For Grue, the decision to stop full-time dedication feels increasingly right. But it was a comment from her coach, long before she made that decision, that triggered the change.

What was it that triggered the change?

“I remember it very well. My coach, Jon Kristian Svaland, said to me: ‘Eline, you shouldn’t feel like you have to sacrifice something.’ I thought that was such a stupid thing to say at the time. I thought elite sport was all about sacrifice. You’re supposed to make hard choices. What is elite sport if you don’t sacrifice something?”

But Svaland’s comment stuck in Grue’s head.

“I’ve understood more of what he meant. You should want it (to commit). You should want to go out for that training session, not think you’d rather be somewhere else. I’ve thought that I want to prioritize family, friends, maybe a party or two in the summer. But that takes something from the total. Then I either need to make room for it or acknowledge the risk. However, I see that the positive benefits of those priorities outweigh the negatives. So, the sum of those sensible choices means you feel much better, the total is positive, and you don’t feel like you’re just making heavy sacrifices.”

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Balance in life

The change has given Grue an eye-opener.

“There’s room to go to a café with friends, spend time with family, or be at school without it being a catastrophe (for the training). If I had been terrified of getting sick, I could never have done that,” she says.

“It’s about prioritizing yourself, not just the athlete in the ‘ideal’ sense, someone who only sleeps, eats, and trains. If those things give you energy, then it’s actually an advantage in elite sport. But most people aren’t like that. Most need social relationships, family, and friends. Then the commitment becomes more sustainable over time, and I think you also get better mental health from it.”

Aiming for the World Cup

Now, Eline Grue is aiming for her World Cup debut – still as a full-time student and with biathlon as a hobby.

“My goal is to race a World Cup this winter,” says Grue.

She has made a clear plan for the project and knows she must proceed step by step.

“To get into the World Cup, I first need to perform well at the season opener so that I qualify for the IBU Cup. I’ve been on the IBU Cup every year since 2018, so I expect that. But I’ve been a guest athlete and never managed to secure a permanent spot there. And that’s what you need to move forward. It requires that I make the podium there now and then and take individual podiums. I’ve never done that before.”

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