Norway 🇳🇴 – Erik Valnes and Simen Hegstad Krueger not convinced by Erling Braut Haaland’s methods
Erling Braut Haaland, a world-renowned footballer who plays his club football for Manchester City, recently made the headlines in Norway. One of the best strikers in the world spoke about his recovery methods.

A subject that has divided Scandinavian sportsmen and women. As part of his daily routine, the tall man uses light therapy and filtered water to help his body recover from physical exertion. Protocols that have not really convinced the national cross-country skiers.
This is particularly the case for Erik Valnes: “It’s probably to give themselves an ‘image’. It’s easy for people to see it and get used to the idea much more easily. It’s the same with cross-country skiers. When I was 15 and I saw Petter Northug Jr cutting the hems off zips, people noticed. But you realise that it’s just absurd,” he tells Nettavisen.

An opinion that was soon shared by his team-mate Simen Hegstad Krueger: “I’m more in line with Erik. I’m more in line with Erik. I think some people do a lot of things that are just a waste of time,” he admits. But if you think you sleep a lot better when you wear blue-light glasses at night, then maybe there’s a placebo effect that makes you sleep well.”
Sweden 🇸🇪 – The Swedish cross-country ski team will not be staying in the Olympic Village during the Milan/Cortina Olympic Games
Next winter, the XXV Olympic Winter Games will be held in Italy. With the name Milan/Cortina, there’s no doubt that the events will be held in a variety of locations, some more remote than others. For this reason, the organisers will be opening no fewer than six Olympic villages close to the various competition venues.

And many of them will not be very different from the hotels that cross-country skiing World Cup athletes are used to staying in. And yet that hasn’t stopped the Swedish team from booking their own accommodation in the village of Panchia (Italy). The accommodation is less than ten minutes from Val di Fiemme (Italy), the venue for the cross-country skiing events.

“It’s important to be alone in a hotel. We have our own boss and we can control everything,” national team boss Anders Bystroem admits to SVT Sport. If someone is ill, we can isolate ourselves. We also have our own atmosphere and everyone can relax.
Norway 🇳🇴 – Ill at Le Grand-Bornand, Endre Stroemsheim gives some news
At the start of this winter, Endre Stroemsheim has sometimes impressed, like his victory in the individual short race at the Biathlon World Cup in Kontiolahti (Finland), but the Norwegian has also surprised. And not always in a good way. Twenty-eighth in the pursuit at Hochfilzen (Austria) and fifty-fifth in the sprint at Grand-Bornand (Haute-Savoie), the Scandinavian returned home earlier than expected before Christmas.

Hampered by mysterious symptoms preventing him from expressing himself at 100%, the 27-year-old biathlete underwent a number of tests on his return to Norway. Like his compatriot Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold, it was his heart rate that was affected: “It’s not safe to ski competitively when you feel like that,” he told NRK.
However, he was also diagnosed with a viral infection with no real symptoms. This was difficult news to hear, as the Norwegian was not suffering. “In top-level sport, you don’t always get such clear-cut answers. Not everything is logical, but it’s probably a form of negative stress, a latent infection or something diffuse that can happen”, he explains, stressing that it’s not a heart arrhythmia.

Pending clarification of this situation, Endre Stroemsheim will indeed be back competing from this Friday in the sprint stage of Oberhof (Germany): “I hope I’ll be back in shape and able to react in 2025. I want to get back into shape,” he says.
Italy 🇮🇹 – Absent from Les Rousses, the Italians will be back in training at the Col de Lavazè
In the last few days, the Italians have announced that they will not be taking part in the cross-country skiing World Cup leg scheduled for Les Rousses (Jura) from 17 to 19 January. It was news that caused a stir among many observers.

The cause? A training camp scheduled to prepare for the world championships in Trondheim (Norway), which kick off on 26 February in Scandinavia. And it’s in Trentino, at Passo di Lavazè (Italy) to be precise, that the training camp will take place from 12 to 22 January.

The course will be attended by all the best cross-country skiers in Italy, including Federico Pellegrino, Francesco De Fabiani, Elia Barp, Davide Graz, Simone Mocellini, Simone Daprà, Paolo Ventura, Michael Hellweger, Martino Carollo, Caterina Ganz, Martina Di Centa and Nicole Monsorno.
Russia 🇷🇺 – Eduard Latypov and the Russians keep a close eye on what’s happening at the World Cup
Since February 2022 and the invasion of Ukraine by Vladimir Putin’s armed forces, Russians have not taken part inIBU or FIS competitions. Training at home and competing in the Cup of Russia and Commonwealth Cup, local athletes are doing their best to remain competitive.

Even though they are far from the international circuits, they still keep a close eye on the events taking place on the biathlon world cup in particular. This is what Eduard Latypov told Sports.ru: “We watch the races regularly and try not to miss them,” he explains.

Indeed, the Russian is not giving up hope and believes in his chances of returning to compete with the very best, even if he knows that the level has never stopped rising. “We’re trying to introduce rapid fire with our coaches. Because in the World Cup, they now shoot much faster than we do,” he admits. We’ll try to minimise these differences when we come back. We’re trying to prepare ourselves for any difficulties we might encounter when we come back.
Read also
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- Planète Nordic #21: Sebastian Samuelsson donates his race number to Dmytro Pidruchnyi in support of Ukraine
- Planète Nordic #20: Dorothea Wierer could do nothing about the individual short in Kontiolahti after suffering a back injury
- Planète Nordic #19: Franziska Preuss soon to retire?
- Planète Nordic #18: Krista Pärmäkoski still uncertain about her future
- Planète Nordic #17: the atmosphere at the French club championships impressed foreigners
- Planète Nordic #16: Hanna Oeberg already looking ahead to next winter
- Planète Nordic #15: Johann André Forfang receives death threat
- Planète Nordic #14: Petter Northur Jr and Ole Einar Bjoerndalen take on the Norwegian federation
- Planète Nordic #13: water in the gas in the Nordic countries
- Nordic Planet #12: Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen gets the backing of Swedish fans after his cracking Worlds relay performance
- Nordic Planet #11: Hanna Oeberg woken up by… a peacock in Nove Mesto
- Planète Nordic #10: former biathlete Alexey Volkov opens his grocery shops in Russia
- Nordic Planet #9: Swedish biathlete Tilda Johansson, at a standstill, takes her time to recover
- Planète Nordic #8: what Julia Simon, Johannes Thingnes Boe and Tiril Eckhoff think about Dorothea Wierer’s possible retirement
- Planète Nordic #7: Norwegian and Swedish adventures to reach Oberhof
- Planète Nordic #6: Sebastian Samuelsson stronger than William Poromaa on skis?
- Planète Nordic #5: William Poromaa takes on the biathletes
- Nordic Planet #4: when Roger Federer meets Tarjei Boe and Emilien Jacquelin
- Planète Nordic #3: the return of Russian athletes under neutral banners at the Olympic Games is causing a stir
- Nordic Planet #2: Dorothea Wierer’s misfortunes
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