Sarah Blizzard heads off to Europe to compete in the world cup for bobsledding

Blizzard, who now resides in the Australia Capital Territory, has had a busy few months preparing for her departure.

Blizzard said she was excited - although it was a "different kind of excitement" to normal holiday mode.

"I head overseas and despite not having to work full time I will be a full-time athlete," she said.

"There was a lot to work through in getting things organised for my departure.

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"I had to apply for an exemption to go - there was a lot of paperwork we had to submit for that and a lot of planning."

Blizzard said she felt "extremely lucky" to be able to obtain an exemption.

"We've had to set up an itinerary of where we are going to be," she said.

"Everywhere we will be travelling to for training or a competition we have to get a COVID-19 test. It works out to be about one a week.

READ MORE: Stawell Gift runner Sarah Blizzard takes on the bobsled tracks in the Europe Cup | Photos, video

"I haven't had one yet but will get getting one before I leave next week.

"There's a lot of documents we've had to provide to the federation."

Blizzard said in past trips, travel insurance covered all her needs, however, if now didn't cover COVID-19 illnesses.

"I've had to set up European health insurance on top of my travel insurance," she said.

"There is a lot we had to do to make this season work.

"We're really lucky I suppose that we're such organised girls we're on top of all of that."

Blizzard will have her first run on the ice since early 2020 is about October 22.

"I get over there, have a few days to settle in and then the next day we're off to Latvia," she said.

"Our drive Bree is going to learn a new track up there.

"Our first competition is in November - which is part of the World Cup competition."

RELATED: Australian bobsledder Sarah Blizzard trains with a twist while looking ahead to upcoming world champs

Not unfamiliar with having a break in training, Blizzard said she had missed the bobsled.

"I'm a long way from overseas and have definitely seen people over there doing push sessions with their team," she said.

"I can kinda do push sessions with my rusty trolley.

"Despite the feeling of missing it, this off-season has been really good just to take some time to push out some really good quality training.

"I've improved with my sprint times and weight lifting - so everything has improved ready for the season."

Blizzard said despite understanding and respecting all the of the restrictions in place, it was still "tough" not being able to see her family in Victoria before she leaves.

"There were problems flying out from Melbourne to Germany and many flights were being cancelled," she said.

"I had to make the decision to fly out of Sydney instead.

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"But because of the New South Wales and ACT borders closed to Victoria before I go.

"It's unfortunate, I haven't been home since May. It would have been nice to see everyone before I left but thank goodness for phone calls and video chats.

"There are people who are far far worse off than me so I don't have much to complain about."

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