Anna Kiesenhofer has ended her 2026 season early as she continues to deal with unexplained recovery problems that have kept her away from racing since the Austrian national championships in June.
The 2021 Olympic road race champion said she has been struggling for several months with her response to training. One of the main symptoms, she explained, is that her body can remain in what feels like a prolonged “fight or flight” state for hours after relatively moderate sessions, affecting both sleep and recovery.
Kiesenhofer stressed that there is not yet one diagnosis that explains everything. She said some of the symptoms resemble those associated with overtraining and relative energy deficiency in sport, or RED-S, but that none of the typical diagnoses fits the full picture.
Kiesenhofer had hoped a break after Nationals would be enough
Kiesenhofer’s only race appearances of 2026 came at the Austrian national championships at the end of June. She finished second to Christina Schweinberger in the 23.8km time trial, 11 seconds behind the winner, before placing 11th in the road race the following day.
She initially expected that taking a short break after those races would allow her to recover. When the problems persisted, Kiesenhofer and her doctors decided there was little value in trying to force a return before the end of the season.
“Together with my doctors, I’ve decided to end my season early and focus fully on my health,” she said.
Training load has become difficult to sustain
The issue is not a lack of motivation. Kiesenhofer said her enthusiasm for sport remains unchanged, which has made the enforced reduction in training difficult mentally.
The immediate priority is instead to give her body time to recover without the pressure of preparing for another race. She summed up the adjustment simply: “Discipline, right now, means doing less (and eating more).”
Kiesenhofer is racing domestically with Team Cookina Graz in 2026 after several seasons in which she combined a selective professional programme with independent projects. Her career has long followed a less conventional pattern than most riders, something covered in our profile of Anna Kiesenhofer.
She has repeatedly focused on time trials and carefully selected road races rather than carrying a full WorldTour calendar. In 2023, that approach included victory at the Chrono des Nations, one of the strongest individual time trial performances of her post-Olympic career.
No timetable yet for Kiesenhofer’s return
Kiesenhofer has not set a date for returning to full training or racing. The decision to stop now is intended to remove that immediate target while she and her medical team continue to work through the recovery problems.
She also thanked her sponsors for supporting the decision to put her health first. For the remainder of 2026, there will be no attempt to salvage another race programme before winter.
“I’ll be back,” Kiesenhofer wrote, while making clear that the route back will depend on recovery rather than a fixed racing deadline.
