25-year-old Thomas Olsen was slowly but surely getting the hang of racing the MXGP class, having spent the majority of his career in the MX2 class. In his debut season, he was often around the 15th position mark, made some top ten results and was learning fast.
When the 2022 season started the Danish rider had clearly made progress, starting the season with an 8th overall in Matterley Basin, then a 6th overall in Mantova, before claiming a 15th overall in Villa La Angostura. However, after a rather consistent start to the season, his World came crumbling down when he crashed during the free practice for the MXGP of Latvia. Rushed to hospital, Olsen had suffered serious injury.
Fortunately, despite the set-back, the tall rider from Denmark has made a good recovery and could even be seen riding again in Spain recently. At this moment, Olsen thanked his good friend Rasmus Jorgensen, and the people who had helped him to be back on the bike.
“I am lucky to have Rasmus Jorgensen by my side,” Olsen said. “Being there for me in thick and thin. I am also thankful for Husqvarna Factory Racing having my back and making sure I have a bike to ride here in Redsand MXpark, also a big thank to Nestaan MX for getting me and the bike to the tracks and helping me with all the technical stuff. Without these guys I would still be sitting at home. What the future brings, I’m still not sure, but I’m just very happy to have this opportunity to get back on the practice track.”
As for the long road back to MXGP, or even some form of competitive racing, Olsen is careful in what he hopes for. Recovery has been good but racing at the highest level of the MXGP class is something you only do if you are in 100% shape
“Physically I recovered quickly I would say, of course, my neck took five months to fully heal, but I was back on my feet really fast, and from what I’ve heard they had trouble keeping me calm in the hospital. Mentally it has been a big rollercoaster, I was dealing with many symptoms from the head injury, I had trouble being positive and I was feeling a bit down some days. It’s not something I experienced before so I had a hard time dealing with and accepting it. Recovery is going well, but the neck also affects the brain, so when I have a sore neck, I also get headaches and that’s is a problem, but I’m working hard to solve also that issue.”
Filling his time has been one of the toughest things to deal with and his friends, girlfriend, family and many other people have given him the comfort to slowly progress and hopefully return to the sport that he loves.
“I haven’t done a whole lot of things. It’s not like I was able to go on a holiday or go partying with my friends (laughed), no I’ve been busy with recovery, and the best thing you can do after a brain injury is training. I started slowly by just being a bit active outside, then moved into proper training later on. So that’s what I spend most of my time doing while being surrounded by my girlfriend and family. It’s been super important, it gets lonely in a hospital, and luckily my girlfriend came to see me almost every weekend, my family has also taken a lot of time off from work to come and help me get back on my feet. I’m really grateful for them being there for me.”
So, again, time will be his best friend and also his enemy, as he tried to decide what the future is once he gets to that point, hopefully in 2023.
Photo copyrights: MXGP
