It's a pretty good time for Daniel André Tande right now. His favorite club FC Liverpool confidently leads the English Premier League, and Tande himself is also at the top in terms of sport. The Norwegian won the first two World Cup competitions of the season. The last two weeks didn't go quite as well for Tande because of an ankle injury, he also barely qualified for the opening event of the 68th Four Hills Tournament (5:30 p.m. ARD, live ticker SPIEGEL).
But as late as October, not many believed that he would find his old form at all - not even himself, at least not so quickly. "Before the start of the season, I wasn't sure myself whether I was good enough to win a jumping competition again," Tande told SPIEGEL.
Because the win at the season opener in Wisla, Poland was Tande's first World Cup victory since March 2018. "It was one of my best wins and one of the competitions that I will remember for a long time." That's what a world champion and Olympic champion says about a World Cup victory. But the victory in Wisla was special: It ended a year and a half of suffering for Tande. Between spring 2018 and autumn 2019, the probably most difficult months in the life of the 25-year-old were.
"My mouth was a big wound"
It started in May 2018 with an apparent inflammation in the mouth. But the situation only worsened a day after the first symptoms when Tande wanted to lie down briefly. "When I woke up, I couldn't breathe," he says. "For a few seconds, I thought I was going to die." He came to the hospital. Diagnosis: Stevens-Johnson syndrome, an extremely rare and potentially fatal skin condition. Tande's body was probably allergic to a drug.
"My mouth was a big wound, I had to be fed through a tube," he says. The doctors were initially unsure of what to do. Some of the medication required for treatment was on the doping list. "But there was no other way to treat the disease," says Tande.
Tande had to stay in the hospital for almost two weeks, thinking of the end of his career. "I struggled with motivation, but I love this sport." So he continued.
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Four Hills Tournament 2019/20: There are jumps on these jumpsIt is a long way. Tande has lost weight and muscle. He was unable to jump until September. It was all the more surprising when he declared himself healthy and fit again after less than 30 jumps before the start of the 2018 season: "My form is very good, I'm back in full training. Everything is back to normal," he said at the time.
But it was not yet normal again: "I told everyone to believe it myself," says Tande today. "I told myself that I was in good shape. But I quickly realized that it wasn't." Tande jumped behind, retired from the World Cup in the meantime, injured his knee again and ended the season without an individual podium.
It wasn't until autumn 2019 that Tande was back on the podium - and then right back at the top. What did he learn in these 18 months? "It is no longer the end of the world for me to perform poorly in a competition. Losing is not so bad for me anymore."
Three years ago, with the most bitter defeat in his career, things were different.
Inattentiveness cost touring victory
On the 65th Four Hills Tournament, Tande won the jumping events in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Innsbruck. Before the fourth and final competition in Bischofshofen, he was just ahead of Kamil Stoch in the overall tour ranking. "I didn't sleep much the night before the competition. I was really nervous," says Tande. "The first jump was not really good then. But that was not bad. Kamil's jump was also not really good and I was and was always a jumper for the second round."
The second jump was really good. Actually. But before the jump, Tande forgot to check the bindings properly. "My focus at that moment was somewhere else." During the flight, the binding of his right ski came loose, Tande was unable to prevent a fall - but the dream of overall victory on the tour had burst. Tande cried, Stoch triumphed.
How does he look back on this moment today? "I still have enough chances in my life to win the Four Hills Tournament. So now I'm not angry with myself." Tande takes a short break. "But if I end my career at some point and I don't get this victory anymore? Sure, there would be a bitter aftertaste."
Losing may not be that bad for Tande. Winning stays just as nice.