Team Eksjöhus is on the first training camp of the pre-season. Here, Pro Team’s Axel Jutterström talks about expectations, goals for Season XV, and the collaboration with new coach Marthe Kristoffersen.

The sun is shining over Småland’s Eksjö, Sweden, where Axel Jutterström and Team Eksjöhus got together for an eight-day training camp with a mix of “old and new” athletes. 

The Pro Team includes Ski Classic’s most frequent competitor, Morten Eide Pedersen, who last winter became the first to have raced 100 individual events, second place overall in the battle for the Yellow bib, Magni Smedås, Frida Erkers, Sofie Elebro, Joel Andersson and Vasaloppet third place during Season XII, Axel Jutterström.

Read More – 100 Pro Tour events and counting: Morten Eide Pedersen reaches milestone in Ski Classics

Team Eksjöhus also added new athletes to the squad: Kati Roivas, Vebjørn Moen, Thomas Ødegaarden, and Eirik Sverdrup Augdal (who will entirely focus on Ski Classics this winter). In addition, Marthe Kristoffersen has joined as a new coach.

“Very nice with camp and meeting the whole team again, with several new teammates. It feels exciting and inspiring to work towards the coming winter with individual and team goals. I think we can help each other reach the goals together,” says Axel Jutterström to Langd.se.

How were the months since the Ski Classics season ended?

“It’s been nice to have some time off; I managed to play a lot of disc golf. I started the training in the middle of May and think it has flowed well. Started the base period with a cycling camp in Mallorca.”

A significant change compared to last season is that Marthe Kristoffersen joined as a coach, and this is something that is welcomed by the team, including the 24-year-old Jutterström:

“Marthe and I will have talks during the camp to draw up the training plans. I expect that there will be some changes in the plan. Then I like to control and plan my training but look forward to getting ideas and inputs on parts to change or add something from Marthe. And it feels excellent and valuable that she comes in this early so that it is possible to build from now until the winter,” says Jutterström, who can look back on a winter where a seventh place at La Diagonela was his best result, a week after he finished ninth at the Prato Piazza Mountain Challenge:

“If you look at the season, it was a notch better than the previous season. In January, I performed well, but after that, it was up and down. And I didn’t get a hit. I was hoping for podiums and top places, so for that part, I’m a little disappointed.”

What do you need to adjust for the coming winter to get there?

“Mainly two parts. Increase the capacity so that I can keep up even on tougher courses. Then I want to develop my finishes,” says Jutterström before lunch and the day’s second training session in the Småland heat.