Jens Arne Svartedal came home from Düsseldorf with a very disappointing 55th place finish. Last year’s sprint world champion isn’t letting that affect his training plans leading up to the first World Cup distance races at Beitostœlen, Norway.
“My plan is to continue with a lot of base training and to keep the pressure on. I am not planning to let up prior to the Beitostœlen races. Even though I did well there last year, those races are not this season’s priority,†says Jens Arne to langrenn.com.
Training on His Own
Since August, Svartedal has been training apart from the rest of the distance national team. Among other factors, he recently became a father. He doesn’t think that this break has had a major affect on his form.
“I’ve felt pretty good recently, even though there has been some variation. The week prior to Düsseldorf I attended a training camp with the sprinters and as a result was optimally prepared. The expectations were sky high and naturally I am disappointed by the result. I don’t have a good explanation and can’t figure out why it went so poorly,†explains Svartedal.
His goal this year is to be competitive in the skate sprints. So far he’s had a terrible start:
“I have performed poorly before and I’ll handle this as well. But it’s never fun to ski a bad race. It’s important for me to be competitive in the skate sprints after I have had such good results in classic. I’d like to compete in a variety of races and collect some world cup points along the way.â€
No Negative Effect
Svartedal’s hiatus from the national team is also coming to an end. He plans to follow the rest of the team’s plan for the rest of the season:
“From this point forward I’m fully committed. I have had clam days at home and the longest training camp is over. Now the camps will be shorter and there will be some traveling back and forth, which should work out fine. I’m looking forward to training with other people again after a long period of training by myself in August.â€
He doesn’t think that missing the national team altitude camp in Val Senales will have a negative effect on the season.
“Missing the Val Senales camp won’t impact my results. I have laid down a lot of quality training here at home. There is only one race at altitude this year and I don’t think it will have much of an effect,†explains the Trœsken-skier.
How do you feel about Petter Northug, a regular national team member, who went faster than the specialized sprinters in Düsseldorf?
“One of the strengths of the Norwegian national team is that if one of the squads is struggling the other team can take over. If I were to judge based on the first race in Düsseldorf, I would have to say that the evolution of sprint has reached a plateau. It is still possible for a normal distance skier to be competitive in these races. I don’t think many people expected that five years ago. The changes have not been as extreme as some people predicted. But we’ll have to see how things go throughout the rest of the season as well,†concludes Jens Arne.
Source: Langrenn.com
