Snowboard crossster Nienke Poll from Nistelrode is injury free, she made her World Championship debut this season | Regional sports

This season, Nienke Poll from Nistelrode crossed paths with the world top. In December, she made her debut in a World Cup competition and earlier this month she took part in the World Cup in Georgia. It wasn’t obvious that she was there in the first place. His preparation did not go as planned due to injuries. In January, she finished fourth at the Universiade in the United States, but after her return she suffered a concussion in a fall during training in France.

After three weeks, she was allowed to snowboard again, but now her ankle ligaments in both ankles have suffered a serious blow in a fall. “I struggled to walk for three or four days. The tendons of one ankle were irritated. When she started snowboarding again for one day, walking became difficult again for two days.

“Snowboardcross is an injury prone sport. You have a lot of speed and you have to cross obstacles. If you go, you go hard. After a fall on the first bump, four more come, then you keep bouncing. The 21-year-old, who is training with the Swiss team, recovered in time to start the World Cup in Bakorkani. ,, An amazing experience.”

The opposition is not only much stronger than in the European Cup, the level below the World Cup. The track is also bigger and faster. “You only learn by doing.” She was too happy with her race, but a place in the quarter-finals was not an option. The Netherlands were also represented in the mixed teams for the first time. Poll formed a tag team with Glenn de Blois. They were eliminated after a fall by Poll.

_{The text continues below the photo.}

Downhill is part of snowboard cross. He falls, gets up and leaves. Often without major consequences. However, this is not always the case. The 21-year-old can understand that. She broke her back in October 2021. She does not know exactly what happened during training in Switzerland. “It went so fast.” She fell on a bump and bounced several others. Poll was in no pain, but could not get up. A doctor was called, she was not allowed to move, after which a helicopter took her to the hospital.

There, she noticed that it was serious. She had to lie on her back and not move. “I had to pee and normally I can do it in a container, but the doctor told me to wait a minute. I noticed from the behavior of the doctors that there was more to it. She was in no pain, but burst into tears from the tension and uncertainty.”At one point I was tired of crying. A fracture was discovered using a lower back CT scan An operation followed the same day.

The strong taste did not scare her. After three months, she was back on her snowboard. Even if it was a bit to test his body’s reaction. Funnily enough, a fall helped her with that. “It sounds strange, but luckily I fell hard once. I thought what do I feel now? I feel something, but it’s not too bad. My body could handle it.

Since then, she has continued to develop well. Competing in the World Cup was what she calls an “intermediate dream”. The big dream must come true in 2026 with participation in the Milan Olympics. A ten-year plan was drawn up in 2016 to achieve this. “I was running a bit ahead of schedule until I broke my back, but now it’s going as planned.” The next step is that she wants to do more World Cup races next season to gain experience.