Axel Teichmann: Cross Country Skiing’s Answer To Michael Johnson

FasterSkier · December 2, 2004

Axel Teichmann (25) is by Norwegian tabloid paper VG being compared to former 400-meter super-star runner Michael Johnson (USA). It’s Teichmann’s dominance and â€œstiff and standing straight up styleâ€ in diagonal skiing that makes the paper compare Teichmann to the way Johnson ran on the track.

VG:

Teichmann is skiing classic more efficient than any other skier in the World. His style is however a hot discussion topic among the experts.

– He is cross country skiing’s answer to Michael Johnson. He skis exactly like Johnson used to run — and might become equally good, says Sweden’s World Cup winner Mathias Frederiksson.

Â Teichmann is comfortable with this comparison:

– Very flattering. My style has its background in the fact that I ran a lot of cross country in the terrain at home in Lobstein. I ran very upright. I worked well and I took it to the ski tracks.

Testing the human body:

Teichmann is scaring the World’s elite skiers with impressive strength in both classic and freestyle. He is now the early favorite to win the duathlon/pursuit gold at the Oberstdorf Worlds in February.

Another reason is his training philosophy:

– I’m determined to find out how much training the human body can absorb, said Teichmann in an interview ahead of last season.

Former Olympic champion, Vegard Ulvang finds the comparison to Michael Johnson very interesting:

– Teichmann might dominate cross country skiing in years to come. He has a unique base with hard training and German accuracy. The whole team is doing well and developing the way we experienced Norwegian women’s racing from 1980 to 1986 and among the Norwegian men in the nineties. They might dominate cross country skiing for many years, said Ulvang.