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Lucas Bögl: "True greatness is being able to accept defeat"

2023-03-08T16:31:05.867Z


Lucas Bögl in an interview about the Nordic World Championships, where he missed out on relay bronze and ended up on the TV microphone.


Lucas Bögl in an interview about the Nordic World Championships, where he missed out on relay bronze and ended up on the TV microphone.

Planica/Gaißach – A season can't be that bad if you qualify for a world championship.

But Lucas Bögl, 32-year-old cross-country skier from SC Gaißach from Holzkirchen, has not lived up to his expectations - neither in the previous World Cup season nor at the just ended World Championships in Planica/Slovenia.

Bögl, who now lives in Aschau am Chiemsee, missed the top 30 as 33rd in the duathlon over 30 kilometers, compensated a little as 25th in the individual over 15 kilometers.

After the World Cup, Bögl talks about the limelight and bright spots, growing from defeats, continuing his career and concrete posts.

Mr Bögl, you sat at the 50 km marathon as an ARD expert on the microphone, have you ever secured a second source of income for the future?

No, no, I haven't thought about that at all, it was more of a coincidence.

JJ (ARD reporter Jens-Jörg Rieck, ed.) is always in close contact with the waxers and athletes, and when he noticed that I wasn't starting, he asked me.

I immediately agreed...

You did well, very confident, entertaining and well informed...

Thanks, I got quite a bit of positive feedback.

But I was pretty excited and nervous.

I've never done anything like this before.

Oh yes, once at the first Tour de Ski in Munich I briefly commented on the finish line, it went completely wrong (laughs).

It went quite well this time, seems to suit me, it was fun.

But JJ also guided me well.

I was more afraid that I would talk too much, get too far away from the race...

In contrast to the television appearance, the World Cup was not so exhilarating for you.

What was going on?

True, it wasn't that great, it wasn't what I had in mind.

Appropriate for winter: I've been kind of wormy for the whole season.

After a solid start, I hoped that it would go forward step by step, but it was rather going backwards.

After the Tour de Ski I had stomach problems and couldn't really get back on track.

It's a shame I wasn't in better shape for the World Cup.

It's really a shame that you weren't there for the relay that surprisingly won bronze?

Yes, that was extremely hard, especially because I saw that such a surprise is possible.

But I'm not jealous of the four (Friedrich Moch, Jonas Dobler, Albert Kuchler and Janosch Brugger, ed.), On the contrary, I'm happy for them, I celebrated them properly.

It was very emotional, especially since the women had previously won silver.

No bad blood at all?

After all, Janosch Brugger was actually behind them in the individual race...

No not at all.

We arranged it that way, Janosch should definitely be there because he has already delivered a couple of classic top ten results.

We were looking for a classic specialist, that's totally fine, that made sporty sense.

The decision about the relay line-up was made after the individual race on Wednesday.

Aren't you disappointed not to have been nominated?

Of course I was disappointed, but disappointed in myself. I wholeheartedly wish the others their success.

I'm learning from it, I have to get my head around it and get better.

I want to be in the relay in the future, so I have to get better.

If I'm in the top ten, there's no discussion as to whether I'll be in the relay.

So I have to run top ten.

So that means it wasn't your last World Cup...

No.

I once made the 2026 Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo my final goal.

These are winter games that are not so far away, but instead take place in traditional winter sports regions.

That's another incentive for me.

You will be 33 in the summer, so you are at the best age for endurance sports...

Yes, I'm the grandfather of the team... (laughs) Three things have to be right before you think about the end of your career: health, performance and motivation.

I'm still healthy, my performance isn't that great, but at least it's enough to qualify for the World Cup, and I'm very motivated.

I would like to keep up with the front again in the future,

After all, you decided not to run the 50 kilometers yourself at the World Championships.

Why?

Because I'm already flying to Oslo for the next World Cup tomorrow, where the next 50er is on the agenda for the weekend.

That would have been too much.

But at least it was the WM-50 that you gave up...

Yes, but I've run three World Cup 50s in my career and I didn't want to run this time just to run it.

I didn't want to get a disappointing result.

And did you expect that?

I knew in my head that I wouldn't finish in the top 20.

I was already 25th at the World Championships, so I decided not to start.

I'd rather run at the Holmenkollen now, that's also a classic, I take it as a great experience.

How do you rate the results in the World Championship duathlon and individual over 15 kilometers?

The result in the 30s was disappointing, I had problems after switching from classic to skating, I couldn't cope.

I had incredibly heavy legs, real concrete posts.

A few days later it worked again, I was relatively satisfied with rank 25 in the individual.

That was a ray of light.

I was happy that it worked at least a little bit.

Was there anything positive for you at the World Cup?

Yes, I remember it as a beautiful experience.

And I can also grow by processing defeats...

But defeat is a hard word for a World Cup participation...

Yes, but I think if you can be happy for others and grow from it when you have not met your expectations, that is true greatness.

I'll take that with me from the World Cup.

What's next?

There are still three World Cups.

The one in Oslo, then Falun in Sweden and finally the World Cup finals in Lahti.

Let's see what's going on there.

Finally, there is the military competition of my employer, the Bundeswehr.

I'll probably even miss the DM because of that. But the military races are always fun competitions at the end of the season.

And then summer break?

Yes, briefly, but a few days later it starts again - for training for the next season.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2023-03-08

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