SUMMER TO WINTER? NO PROBLEM AS TWO-SPORT STAR KENDALL GRETSCH KEEPS RACKING UP MEDALS
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by Alex Abrams
Kendall Gretsch competes in the sprint biathlon during the 2023 Para Nordic Skiing World Championships on Jan. 21, 2023 in Oestersund, Sweden.
Kendall Gretsch didn’t get to enjoy much of an offseason because of the way the schedule worked out this winter.
The two-sport star travelled to Abu Dhabi to compete in the 2022 paratriathlon world championships in late November.
After earning a silver medal, Gretsch spent an extra day in the United Arab Emirates to hang out with her teammates before returning to the U.S. to get ready for the start of the Para Nordic skiing season.
“When I came back to the U.S., I took about a week off from training before starting Nordic training for the season,” Gretsch said last week from Östersund, Sweden, where she was competing in the Para Nordic world championships.
“Since I leave home for the entire winter, I used that time to pack for the winter season in addition to taking a mental break from training.”
By now, Gretsch, 30, is accustomed to quickly transitioning from one sport to the next without much of a break. The six-time Paralympic medalist competes as a triathlete in the summer and a Nordic skier once there’s snow on the ground. She’s won Paralympic gold medals in both sports.
It’s a fast turnaround, but Gretsch said she has learned over the past six years how to keep her body in shape so she can handle the physical toll it takes to be a world champion in two different endurance sports.
The native of Downers Grove, Illinois, made it look easy at the Nordic world championships. She dominated the women’s sit skiing division despite having a busy, weeklong schedule in Östersund.
Gretsch won a world title in all but one of the six individual biathlon and cross-country skiing events she competed in at the world championships. The only event she didn’t take the gold in was the cross-country sprint race, instead settling for the silver.
Gretsch capped off her impressive showing at the world championships by helping the Americans win gold in the mixed 4x2.5-kilometer relay on Sunday’s final day of the competition. She skied the third leg, winning her seventh medal in seven days.
“I put in a really good training block leading up to this, so I really wanted to push myself in all of the races,” Gretsch told USParaNordicSkiing.org. “Managing the whole week, it’s a lot of races, so trying to prepare and recover is something I’ve learned how to do over time.”
Gretsch said her overall fitness and endurance has helped her transition from paratriathlons to Nordic skiing throughout the year. Still, she said needs time to build back those specific muscles she uses in each sport.
“There are different technical aspects of each sport that come easier than the other, but both require the same amount of training to be competitive at the top level,” said Gretsch, who was born with spina bifida. “As endurance sports, they both require long hours of training to be competitive.”
