Austrian motocross rider Elena Kapsamer had an eventful 2024 season. Close to the podium at the EMX Women’s European Championship, she sometimes showed bad luck at the WMX World Championship. After sustaining an injury during the GP of Türkiye, Elena shares updates on her recovery journey and analyzes her 2024 season.
Elena, how have you been doing since your injury at the GP of Türkiye?
The first few weeks were really difficult to be honest I was in a lot of pain and wasn‘t really able to do anything. Also mentally it was quite difficult to accept for me. But some weeks went by and when the pain went away I started to feel a lot better and was able to cope with it quite well!
You required surgery for your leg, where are you in your rehabilitation?
Yes, right now i‘m at the last stage of rehab (I hope😂). We are back to the physical training and trying to get my leg strong again. I still need to do some physio the get all my range of motion back but i‘m really happy with the progress i‘m making day by day.
Do you have an idea of when you’ll be ready to get back on your bike?
I have another x-ray and follow up appointment on the 9th of december and I hope to get cleared to ride then but i‘m not completely sure yet.
Looking back at your 2024 season, it was full of ups and downs, including some bad luck. You achieved your first Top 10 in the WMX World Championship in Italy and finished fourth in the EMX Women’s European Championship. How do you evaluate your performance overall?
Well I would say it was quite solid. I reached almost all of my goals I set for this year. I basically lost my overall podium in the EMX in the first race where I crashed in qualifying and couldn‘t race on sunday. Other than that I‘m happy with my EMX season. WMX is a little bit of a different story. I feel like I could have done better but some races I got hit by bad luck and other races I messed up myself. But I learned a lot again and I know what I can do when all the pieces of the puzzle get together and thats what I will work on this winter!
What are your plans and goals for the 2025 season?
I‘m not 100% sure on what races we are doing next year. I have to sit together with my dad and my coach not decide that. But I will do the EMX and the WMX again and I really want to race some races in the USA. What other national races I will do I‘m not quite sure yet. My goal is to be better than this year and give it my all in every session.
Is there anything you’d like to add? Any special thanks?
So first I really want to thank every person again that reached out to me after I got hurt! This really ment a lot to me. Then I really would like to thank everyone who helped me through the season all my sonsors and coaches. But the biggest thanks goes to my family. Especially my dad who sacrifices so much for me. I‘m really excited to start riding again and can‘t wait to start preparing for 2025. Oh and I really want to thank my doctor who did the best job possible to repair my messed up leg!