For a number of years, Sørum has been seen as one of the country’s leading biathlon talents, but when he was about to step up to the world elite, his dream received a powerful shot in the bow. At a pre-season training session, the recruit felt something was wrong. He immediately felt that the pain must be coming from the appendix. But even so, several days would pass before he could do anything about the problem. – I was in Italy, with language problems, and it was difficult to explain that I thought it was the appendix. I tried my best, but they thought it was a urinary tract infection, Sørum tells news. The Italian doctors gave him a course of antibiotics and sent him back to the hotel. The Norwegian doctors chose to trust their Italian colleagues’ diagnosis. – It turned out that the antibiotic course was actually a little worse for that type of appendicitis, he explains. VICTORY CELEBRATION: Vebjørn Sørum was part of the newly composed Norwegian team that won the relay in Östersund. Photo: Anders Wiklund / AP – Extremely painful Sørum did not travel back to the team at the altitude in Lavazè, but checked into a hotel in the lowlands in Cavalese. – The last night it was extremely painful. I didn’t know where to turn. It was almost like I went down to the hospital in desperation, recalls the 24-year-old. The next morning he managed to convince the doctors at the local hospital and was sent by ambulance to Trento to operate. – I was lucky that it stayed up for the two extra days, because if it had burst completely, I think the whole season would have gone to shit. Fortunately, I was operated on before it burst properly, but a little infection had come out in the abdominal cavity, says Sørum. STRONG: Vebjørn Sørum delivered a strong relay leg in Östersund. Photo: Anders Wiklund / AP The operation was successful and Sørum was able to return home to start training. – It was a good while of training, but at least I got to train during the period. I think that was quite decisive. There were many hours on the spinning bike, but if you are motivated, then there is no problem, says Saturday’s relay hero. The body still needed time to recover, and until Christmas the digestion was a bit so-so. Eventually he got back into competition, but until the new year he was mostly just a filler on the results list. Then the dream of a World Cup debut seemed distant. – I know how hard it is to get to the World Cup in the first place. There are so many good Norwegians that you have to be on your toes all the way, says Sørum. – Looking bigger at biathlon But out of the bad, there was also something good for the talent. He himself believes that period is the reason why, after the New Year, he has taken five podium places and three victories in the IBU Cup, three European Championship golds and last week saw his World Cup debut. And now comes the debut in front of the home crowd in Holmenkollen. – With the appendectomy, I have managed to see biathlon a little bigger. I have managed to focus on the important and big things, not as detail-focused as I usually am. It also helps me a lot before the ski race and is a good reason why I have performed so consistently, explains Sørum. And with results like this, he is also approaching a place in the elite national team, but he has no desire to do so for the time being since he is enjoying himself on coach Anders Øverby’s recruiting team. – It’s something I still want to be a part of. We have great fun and the advantage of being on recruitment is that we are based in Lillehammer. We meet every day and I think we have an extreme advantage from that, compared to elites who are more gathering-based. There are more established performers. Right now I would choose a recruiting team, considers Sørum. The main reason is that he wants follow-up on training sessions daily. – That is what determines whether you become a good biathlete or not. I think it is an extreme advantage to have a trainer at all sessions in everyday life, not just one week on and one week off. We have an extreme advantage there. Anders Øverby is extremely motivated and does much more than what he needs to do, he concludes.
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