NORWAY – Achilles pain has mared Kristin Stoermer Steira for a long time this spring, and forced her to skip her plans to race the 5,000 meter event at the European Championships in Barcelona (SPA). However, after she bagged her plans for the championships, she discovered her injury was more serious than she initially thought. Steira was recently diagnosed with a stress fracture in her heel, and will have to use crutches for the next couple of weeks. She won’t be able to do any load-bearing activities for at least four weeks.
“After two rounds of cortisone injections that didn’t help and cross-training, which also didn’t help, we found the stress fracture,” Steira notes on her home page. “It’s pretty depressing to say the least. But I have to deal with reality and train in whatever way I can.”
Kristin Störmer Steira is a skate specialist who also performs well in double pursuit events. She’s been tagged the “eternal fourth” after just missing the podium several times at some of the big championships. However, at the 2009 World Championships in Liberec (CZE), she skied into a silver medal, and at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, she skied the third leg for the Norwegian relay team that hauled home the gold.
Steira is also an accomplished track and field athlete, and has been a staple among the top Norwegian distance runners for a long time. Steira is also the Norwegian trail running champion.
From www.langd.se July 11, 2010, by Kjell Erik Kristiansen. Translated by Inge Scheve.
Inge Scheve
Inge is FasterSkier's international reporter, born and bred in Norway. A cross-country ski racer and mountain runner, she also dabbles on two wheels in the offseason. If it's steep and long, she loves it. Follow her on Twitter: @IngeScheve.
