Icelandic skier Sturla Snær Snorrason is in the midst of a nail-biting race—but not the kind he was hoping to take part in during the Winter 2022 Olympics in Beijing, China. Vísir reports that Olympian was just released from isolation after having been diagnosed with COVID last Saturday. This means that Sturla Snær can begin training again but will not be able to actually compete unless he receives a negative PCR test result prior to his events, one of which is this weekend.
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Sturla, who competed in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, was one of Iceland’s flagbearers during the opening ceremonies last Friday, along with cross-country skier Kristrún Guðnadóttir. Following the ceremony, he began to experience COVID symptoms and was taken to a hospital in Beijing and put in isolation.
After a few days, Sturla began to feel better, but he also began to get bored. “There was no coffee or anything like that,” he remarked in an interview. “It wasn’t possible to go on any social media that we use at home. […] There wasn’t even a table and chair to sit at. You had to eat in bed and lie there all day. Not much in the way of entertainment, so I had to make my own.” To while away the time, therefore, Sturla decided to create a website for the road-marking company he runs with his father.
As of Friday, Sturla was still in quarantine and still testing positive for COVID. If all goes well, however, he will compete in Men’s Giant Slalom late Sunday night/early Monday morning (GMT/Iceland time) this weekend and Men’s Slalom in the early hours of February 16.
