Swedish national team sprinter changes focus - goes all in for Ski Classics

Long Distance

Swedish national team sprinter changes focus – goes all in for Ski Classics

by MÅRTEN LÅNG • 05.06.2024

Photo: Reichert/NordicFocus

Last season, he was part of the Swedish national team. Now, he is taking the step to Ski Classics and Team Ramudden: “I need to get better at all aspects of long-distance skiing,” says Anton Persson.

Team Ramudden’s line-up for the upcoming Ski Classics Season XVI was presented on Tuesday evening.

A trio of new skiers was included in the “full-time” line-up: Frenchman Thomas Joly, Norwegian Julie Kvale Støstad, and last season’s Swedish national team member Anton Persson.

In addition, Truls Gisselman will race for Team Ramudden, but his main goal is to break into the Swedish World Championships squad.

“The idea is to be involved in as many races as possible and what fits in. The races I raced last season were super nice. I’m really looking forward to this, but I still have much to learn. Then the World Cup is the big goal, and if it doesn’t happen, it’s a really nice plan B with Vasaloppet,” says Gisselman in Team Ramudden’s live broadcast on social media.

However, for Anton Persson, according to Langd.se, the full-time focus is on Ski Classics.

Persson has skied both the World Championships and the Winter Olympics for Sweden and has a lot of experience from the World Cup (his best World Cup finish is eighth place in the sprint in Davos 2021). But a year ago, he had surgery on his torn ACL on two occasions. It was a pretty tough season, and now he is making a restart, and that is with Team Ramudden:

“It feels great to be able to try this. I must develop all parts of my training, and there will be major changes in my training. It will be about tough and specific training with long sessions. Then I feel that I will get a lot of beating in training the first few months,” says Persson with a smile in Team Ramudden’s live broadcast on social media.

Which parts in particular do you need to develop?

“It’s about getting my VO2max in double poling; then it’s also about ‘withstanding the distance.’ I noticed these parts were the clearest difference, for example when I went to Vasaloppet during the “record year.” On the other hand, I feel that I am good at finding speed and flow in the group,” says Persson.

Pro Team Athletes