Last autumn, Hedda Bångman suffered a serious injury in a cycling crash. She is back in action, and in Engadin La Diagonela she matched her personal best.

Hedda Bångman has delivered a strong start to the season. At Engadin La Diagonela last weekend, she equaled her personal best with a fourth-place finish and was in the fight for the podium all the way to the finish line.

But for a long time, the season looked like it was in danger.

Crashed during training

Early last autumn, Bångman crashed her bike during a training session. Initial indications suggested it could take a long time to return.

“It’s always difficult to know when you’re injured. It was a serious accident where I fractured my pelvis. At that point, I didn’t know how the recovery would go or how I would feel,” Hedda Bångman explained during a press conference ahead of Marcialonga.

At first, her physiotherapist thought Marcialonga could be a realistic race to target for her comeback. But things progressed much faster than expected.

“I remember the first time I met the physiotherapist. She said, yes, maybe we can aim for Marcialonga as the goal to be back. But you never know, I think we just decided to take it week by week and see how it goes.”

The rehabilitation went better than expected, and now Hedda Bångman is already battling for top positions in Ski Classics.

“Then it went much, much better than I could ever have imagined. So, I’m very, very grateful that I get to be here and compete.”

Ready for Marcialonga

This weekend, one of Ski Classics’ most prestigious races awaits: Marcialonga in northern Italy.

“My shape is good. I had my final exams for the last semester before Engadin La Diagonela. Before that, I was studying and training a lot, which can be a bit exhausting. But now I have a week off before the new semester starts. So, I feel very relaxed and can focus on training and recovery,” Hedda Bångman concludes.

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