Fabio Jakobsen gets good news: "First be relevant in finales again, then the rest"

Jakobsen chose the latter. “With the message to try to make something of it. Let’s hope it works. In 2024, you can still make the excuse that you switched teams and need to get used to that and adjust. But after a year and a half, if you still can’t ride a decent sprint, you have to look further when you know you’re giving 100% and following everything through. In that respect, I’m happy something was found and I don’t have to doubt myself or think I should retire already. Without that diagnosis and surgery, it would have ended like that.”

The (way) back up
Then it would have been the end of the career, Jakobsen emphasizes. Although the results and performances were, in his own words, “terrible,” he is grateful to have found the problem. In that sense, it really is a new beginning. “And the advantage is that everything is progress, getting better, feeling better, faster and harder,” the born optimist immediately adds. “I’m right in the middle of that process. So I don’t believe I’ve reached my peak yet. Three months after the procedure, training was already going better than before. Recently, I went for a check-up six months post-op. The results looked good,” he explains.

“At diagnosis, blood pressure measurements showed between 38 and 42% less pressure in the ankles compared to the elbows,” he explains. “At the most recent check six months after surgery, the difference was four to two percent. So that is now good, because ideally that should be between zero and ten percent. Anything higher means reduced blood flow. It’s as it should be. I notice it too. During training camp, I had to do some threshold blocks averaging 400 watts for about eight minutes, then follow it with a sprint. Last year, I wouldn’t have been able to do that; everything would have burned out. Now it felt relatively easy.”