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I GOES showed a very strong Aleksandr Bolshunov what awaits Norwegian cross-country skiing in the air during the Olympics in Beijing next winter, but the show lasted only one day:
- Then the Russian had no chance against Simen Hegstad Krüger and Hans Christer Holund in the 5-mile sprint at the World Cup final in Engadin.
Bolshunov was so driven to the top of the last hill that Johannes Høsflot Klæbo and Pål Golberg also passed. Then Krüger had increased the speed so much of the last kilometers that the Russian was no longer so fast.
Total dominance of Norway at extreme heights; with strong Swedish distance runner Jens Burman as the only foreigner in the top five.
Together with Heidi Weng’s sprint winner over Ebba Andersson in 30km a few hours earlier, it gives Norway a brilliant starting point just a year before the Winter Olympics in difficult air.
FOR it is experience that is about. In fact, Norwegian cross-country skiers were intended to spend several years preparing for the Olympic race in the air. After the overwhelming success of the Seefeld WC in 2019, Eirik Myhr Nossum brought the training group together to discuss an ambitious plan for altitude training.
The idea was to prioritize the 2022 Olympics if necessary also before the Oberstdorf WC. Several of the runners were keen for a chance to gain more experience by walking on air, but the travel ban in March last year stopped it all.
The new Norwegian theory confuses
FOR the virus attacked, the Norwegian team still started with valuable tests. In the fall of 2019, both the boy and the girls met for several weeks in the French mountain town of Font Romeu, south of the border with Spain.
This stand was used to test racing arrangements at extreme heights. The idea was to get an answer as to whether more conscious speed control could work in such conditions.
And it was true.
THE The new 5-mile world champion, Emil Iversen, was one of the runners who learned a lot there. Usually he has fought in the air and shot himself in the first test. Then the distance to Simen Hegstad Krüger was 16 km at an altitude of 1800 meters, up to two and a half minutes:
– I have nothing to do in the OlympicsEmil said resigned to the coaches when he reached the goal in that test.
Then, those of us who are left with a notepad listen to it:
– Just write that this is a fad. I take it up straight.
Amazing transformation
THE Emil always does. That fall he was already working on the reorganization of the training program that has raised his career so much the last two winters. Many more hours of calmer sessions have provided a basis for scoring races like the 5-mile race at the World Cup last Sunday.
In the Beijing Olympics, the second favorite exercise comes with the 15 km classic, and then it is important to take the seconds that vary according to the correct race plan.
And that’s exactly what happened after the review of the first test race there at Font Romeu that fall. For the analysis of where he lost the seconds, it turned into a completely different race in test number two the following week.
Suddenly Emil was close to the head again.
Mysterious knockout
OPPLEGET before the Olympics is to achieve altitude stays long enough for runners to learn to compete effectively with less oxygen available. Working exactly with the speed control as a tool is a well known method.
On the Olympic tracks outside Salt Lake City in 2002 at an altitude of just over 1700 meters, a very well prepared Bente Skari decided the second race in the 10km classic against the two Russian drug con artists Julia Tsjepalova and Olga Danilova towards the end.
By then, Skari had long struggled to discover her own optimal cruising speed in the air. Both during and after the altitude climb to these toys, she wasn’t sure. But with experience, a well-arranged gold race came to an end, ending less than five seconds apart with Chepalova in bronze.
Before Danilova disappeared for doping cheating with her blood, from a Russian women’s team where Julia Tsjepalova revealed herself in the same way a few years later.
Failed crown trick
DEFAULT With enough oxygen, some tempt cross-country skiers to shortcuts in the air. With better international control, it becomes more difficult to carry out this fraud. And it’s easier to get credit for those runners who naturally perform well at extreme heights.
Johannes Høsflot Klæbo appears to be in that category after great races at Davos previous seasons. This weekend was good yesterday at 15 km and today strong at 5 miles. There he did not let go of Krüger and Holund until the top of the last long climb, and then called for a stiff Aleksandr Bolshunov.
However, Johanner’s experience with lengthy height training programs is lacking. It should have happened before this season, but the opportunity slipped out of him for fear of leaving Norway.
Heidi Weng’s first win in more than three years
NORWEGIAN cross-country skiing comes with it anyway in Very exciting skier to the new national cross-country ski resort in Zhangjiakou at about 1770 masl in the mountains 180 km north of Beijing. Simen Hegstad Krüger’s level in the air was clear in the last mile of today’s 5 miles at the same altitude.
Tests have also shown that this is a perfect height for Simen Hegstad Krüger:
– It is fascinating to see so many trained people being eliminated, while one runner is completely raw. That’s what makes the best sports so mysterioussaid his teammate Didrik Tønseth after the first test race in fall 2019 at Font Romeu.
At that point, Krüger outscored the rest of the team as he usually does at this point. The distance to slugger Hans Christer Holund in second place was a sensational 47 seconds.
Bolshunov crushed the field: – It shouldn’t work
YES, MAN he is born with a percentage of blood that gives him an advantage in the air. The boys on the national team got a special introduction to this at a training camp in the Alps the previous summer. Then Krüger climbed the Stelvio Pass at 2,757 meters above sea level, in a test with a drop of around 1,300 meters. There are still great words about your speed at those meters of altitude.
It is the feeling of mastery of putting in evidence the own prerequisites that the whole team must train. Among the guys, it looks very promising. Yesterday, there were seven runners from the Norwegian national team in the top 13. And in today’s 5 miles, that is, four riders ahead of Bolshunov.
With girls, Therese Johaug is used to training and competing in the air. Preferably together with Ingvild Flugstad Østberg, who is doing well in Davos.
At best Ingvild is back in good shape for the Olympic season. With the victory of Heidi Weng today and Helene Marie Fossesholm two good races in the air, Norway has an excellent starting point for distance races at extreme heights. Only Norwegian runners will be able to train naturally at height for just over a year.
Brutal “comeback” for Svahn: – It’s not funny.
THE It is not manipulating strange forms of training in high-rise buildings that will be built until the Beijing Olympics. Norway’s extensive success at the World Ski Championships has once again demonstrated the value of social gatherings with traditional Norwegian endurance training for major championships.
It also lasts when the air gets thinner at the Olympics.
Rumors strike back
