Skjeldal following his 6th place in Holmenkollen:
Kristen Skjeldal was the best Norwegian with his 6th place in the 50-kilometer freestyle individual start in Saturday’s World Cup race in Holmenkollen (Oslo), Norway. Skjeldal was left out of the National team this season.
He was skiing as fast as the two fastest, Sommerfeldt and Valbusa in several sections of the course. [Norway's] best distance skater is of the opinion that Norwegians need to show more guts and rawness in skating. He wants help from the Biathlon skiers to make that improvement.
“It would be exciting to look a bit more at what the best Biathlon skiers like Berger are doing. It would be nice to be with them and exchange experiences and ideas. Berger has expressed a desire to do more regular racing next season as well.”
He does not doubt that Berger could fight at the top in the shape he is in now.
“Berger has impressed me. He could fight at the top. Maybe not in a 50 k, but in a 15 or 30-kilometer. He would fight for a podium spot,” says Skjeldal.
He doesn’t think it’s the technique that’s holding the Norwegians back in skating. He feels it’s the skate-strength, push and guts when it’s hard.
“We need to implement the dream about skating really fast in our best skiers,” says Skjeldal.
Skjeldal was for a while fighting for a podium spot on Saturday, but didn’t feel that he had more to give.
“I was dependent upon even pace if I was going to hang on to Valbusa and Sommerfeldt,” says Skjeldal.
The National Team’s coach comments
National team coach, Krister Sorgard says that they are already working on this.
“Andresen and Hanevold have been to some of our camps. We can continue with this. I doubt that we’ll do camps with the Biathlon team.”
Sorgard is convinced that the Norwegian skiers made progress in skating this season and hopes it will continue
“We are training a lot more skating than in the past. We just need to increase the speed even a few more notches in the hard works,” says Sorgard.
