“Extremely angry with myself” – cross-country skier Carl breaks her silence

Nobody knew exactly how Victoria Carl really felt when her world collapsed and she was no longer a beacon of hope for German cross-country skiers because a doping veil had spread over everything. Nor what she herself thought about it from a distance. Because: I withdrew her from the public. Only once, about a year ago, did she give a little insight into her situation on Facebook, but did not comment on the doping test itself. Nobody in the association believed in knowing doping. But that doesn't change the facts: she tested positive.

With an interview for the Swedish broadcaster SVT, the 31-year-old has now broken her long public silence and provided an insight into her inner life. When it came to the approaching end of her doping ban, Carl fought back tears. The 2022 Olympic cross-country skiing champion took a deep breath, took a moment and then said: "I hope that I come back to the World Cup just as strong as I was before. But I just don't know. It will be very difficult for me to get back into competition." Her ban expires on November 25th of this year.

The subsequent ban also cost Carl his participation in the Winter Olympics in February 2026 in Italy. She now said on Swedish TV: “I simply trusted the doctor too much and am extremely angry with myself because I trusted him too much and didn’t ask again whether we were even allowed to take it.”

Carl has been in isolation since the positive test and was not allowed to train with the German team or take part in competitions. At the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, she won gold in the team sprint alongside Katharina Hennig. In Italy she would have competed as Germany's greatest hope in cross-country skiing. “To protect myself,” she said now, “I didn’t follow the games at all.”