In Vu de Norge this week
Petter Northug Jr’s new training partner
Petter Northug Jr. recently went off to train in Livigno, Italy, to take advantage of the benefits of altitude training. But he didn’t go alone! As we saw on the social network Instagram, he went to train with none other than Johannes Høsflot Klæbo.
Northug has set himself a new goal for the winter: to do everything in his power to line up at the start of the Trondheim World Championships in February. Even though he himself says that he has only a small percentage of a chance of getting there, he has decided to pull out all the stops to aim, why not, for the sprint and the team sprint with Klæbo. “This year, I’ve been able to train much better than all the other winters since I retired, and I’m in the best shape I’ve been in for years,” Northug told TV2.
So the retired cross-country skier believes in it, even if Johannes Høsflot Klæbo doesn’t fail to make fun of his compatriot by reminding him that he is ten years older than him and therefore less fit. “But it’s exciting to be working with Petter, we’ll be organising some tougher training sessions over the coming weeks and I can’t wait to see how it goes,” he says.
After all, Klæbo doesn’t want to rule out the possibility of competing with his role model, his childhood idol. “There was even one time when I pretended to be ill so that I could come home from lessons and watch Petter’s last relay, confides the Norwegian champion. Learning from him, including how to manage training at altitude, is a real opportunity.”
And the cross-country skier is not one to pass up the slightest opportunity to improve. “I always want to do better and I want to have the best days of my career next February,” continues Klæbo. And make my mark on Trondheim 2025 in the same way that Northug made his mark on Oslo 2011.
“For my part, I always dream of winning, even if it seems totally impossible. I can’t get it out of my head, and that’s why I’m doing everything I can to achieve this goal,” concludes Northug.
Is Harald Østberg Amundsen, world No. 1, ready?
In March, Harald Østberg Amundsen was feeling poorly, in very bad shape, and despite his victory over Johannes Høsflot Klæbo to win the crystal globe, he had the impression that his lungs were going to give out. This was enough to worry him in the spring, when he was due to resume training ahead of the Trondheim World Championships.
Six months on, the tests are very clear : “He hasn’t deteriorated physically, in fact quite the opposite – he’ s never had such good results!” says his coach Eirik Myhr Nossum in the VG columns.
During a training camp with the national team last month, he dominated his team-mates in a classic 10km race. “It means everything and nothing, says Amundsen. Yes, I’m in very good shape, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to win everything.”
But the cross-country skier is off to a good start. “I’m doing 98% of what I did last year in terms of training, he confides. The only difference is that I sometimes do weeks that are more intense than last year, which I compensate by weeks with more rest.”
For Eirik Myhr Nossum, however, there’s no question of managing his season in the same way as last year. “He was in a bad way in February, he didn’t feel fit any more and so we have to change that this winter so that he’s fit for the World Championships, concludes the coach. So he won’t be doing all the competitions, although I think he’ll be lining up for the Tour de Ski to defend his title.”
The savings of the Norwegian jumping team
It’s no scoop: the Norwegian ski jumping team has been broke for several seasons now. In the absence of big enough sponsors, the Norwegians have had to cut their costs. The new coach of the men’s team, Magnus Brevig, also had to deal with this aspect of his new position.
“To give you an idea of the reduction in our costs, where a training camp used to cost us 75,000 Norwegian kroner (around 6,300 euros), now we only spend 25,000 (around 2,000 euros),” the coach told NRK.
During the last camp in Lillehammer, they all travelled by car rather than by plane (and this will continue to be the case throughout the winter), many of them stayed in flats rather than hotels, Brevig even going so far as to sleep on an inflatable mattress at the home of former jumper Anders Fannemel. Meals were also kept to a minimum.
“That leaves us more money for the really important things like wetsuits and other equipment,” says the Norwegian coach.
“We’ve become very thrifty, we analyse every expense,” adds Halvor Egner Granerud. “Our comforts are a little more basic than before, but they manage,” continues Brevig. “And I think it’s a good thing that we’re getting closer through these difficulties,” concludes Granerud.
The new rules for ski jumping combinations are the talk of the town
A big change in ski jumping: from this winter, the FIS will impose a limit on the number of combinations used over the season. Jumpers will not be able to use more than 10 different combinations to limit costs and give smaller nations a chance to catch up with the big teams such as Austria, Germany, Poland, Slovenia and Norway.
To be precise, the jumpers will be able to “register” four new combinations from the start of the season in Lillehammer until the Four Tremplines Tour. After that, they will again have four new combinations, plus two extra for the Worlds in Trondheim.
Suits, the different fabrics, are one of the sinews of war in ski jumping, where designers look for every possible innovation to give the jumper more lift. What’s more, the suits are always more effective when the fabric is still rigid and therefore new, hence the large number used each year by the richest teams.
“Last year, I used around twenty combinations, I think, and I’d even have liked to have more, but we’ll have to make do,” Marius Lindvik told NRK. “It’s going to be a real challenge, especially as we have to register our combinations beforehand, so we have to choose well from the start,” adds Halvor Egner Granerud .
Each suit will have to be chipped to keep track of the number of jumps made with each one. It will also be forbidden to use more than one jumpsuit on the same competition day.
“I’m sceptical about this change,I don’t think it will reduce the gap between the nations, the big teams will always find a way to have better combinations,” analysed former jumper and NRK expert Johan Remen Evensen .
“It’s true, the big nations are ahead of the game in terms of innovation and limiting the number of combinations used won’t change anything,” says Jan-Erik Aalbu , the sporting director of the jump.
“At the same time, it adds to the excitement around the start of the season, says Norwegian coach Magnus Brevig. It will be exciting to see everyone’s tactics, to see who starts with the fewest possible combinations and who bets on having a lot more at their disposal from Lillehammer at the end of November.”
Holmenkollen firing range closed again
Last year, Oslo’s young biathletes found themselves at a loss when the shooting range at the Holmenkollen stadium closed. Many of them stopped taking up the sport because they couldn’t train, which put a strain on the junior teams.
After briefly reopening, the Holmenkollen shooting range has had to close again.“It’s a disaster, we’re afraid we’re going to lose a lot of young hopefuls again,” Randi Torkildsen, one of the directors of the Oslo TRY biathlon club, told the daily Dagbladet. We now need to find another shooting range and train elsewhere to limit the damage.”
As far as the management of the shooting range is concerned, the verdict is clear: work must be carried out as a matter of urgency to bring the facilities up to standard and, among other things, to create safety walls. The work is expected to take 6 to 8 weeks. Holmenkollen hopes to be able to reopen its shooting range before the end of the calendar year.
Why didn’ t the Oslo municipality carry out the work this summer when it had the least impact on the local biathletes? Quite simply because they didn’t yet have the necessary permits. “There’s a lot of frustration among the juniors who are preparing for the opening races in December. Several clubs use this shooting range, and many juniors and seniors are affected in their preparation,” argues Torkildsen.
Other clubs come to their aid by lending their facilities, but these arrangements are only temporary and difficult to put in place. “We hope to reopen in the first week of December, and our plans have been approved by the police, so there’s normally no risk of us being closed again,” say those in charge of the Holmenkollen shooting range.
The Swedes’ bad bet
The Swedish cross-country skiers have had to postpone their training camp due to take place in Vålådalen, in central Sweden, due to a lack of snow. They took the opportunity to go to altitude in Italy. A worrying setback for the Swedish teams, who would have liked to start training on skis less than a month before the opening of the season.
At the same time, their long-time enemies, the Norwegian cross-country skiers, are also in Sweden, in Idre, enjoying ideal snow conditions!
“We’re hoping for better conditions next week so we can finally train on snow,” says Swedish coach Anders Byström. “I don’t know what we’ll do if that doesn’t happen, it’s very frustrating for us, added Edvin Anger speaking to TV2. Especially as the Norwegians are on snow, and that clearly gives them an advantage for the start of the winter.”
Calle Halfvarsson, the Norwegians’ best enemy, welcomes their choice and their partnership with the town of Idre, but can’t resist taking a dig at them: “Maybe they want to take Idre across the border and make the town Norwegian?”
Petter Skinstad, cross-country skiing expert for TV2, is adamant that the Swedes played very badly. “The Norwegians will clearly have an advantage because they went out on the snow earlier to train, he says. But I don’t understand the organisers in Vålådalen and the Swedish staff, they too must have a weather channel, they should have seen that the forecast wasn’t good and come up with another plan.”
Another plan might be for them to travel to Idre. “That would cost us a lot of money, so we’re counting on a quality camp in Vålådalen instead,” concludes Lars Öberg, director of Swedish cross-country skiing. Let’s hope the snow comes.
