Last season, the Swedish men’s cross-country national team conducted a test with “split” training camps with the sprinters in one place and the distance skiers in another. It was so successful that the same model is being adopted this year.

“We made a 150 percent increase last year in the number of semi-finals and finals,” says the Swedish men’s coach Anders Högberg to Langd.se.

The Swedish sprinters are in Meråker, Norway, for a training camp. At the same time, most distance-focused skiers are at a high-altitude camp in Livigno, Italy.

Training camps with the sprint athletes in one place and the distance skiers in another were tested during the last season.

“It was an idea that emerged during the spring. We saw last season that many of our men’s sprinters made it to the quarterfinals. But many times, it stopped there. We didn’t reach the semi-finals and finals to the extent we wanted. It felt like we needed to do something,” said the coach in early October last year and added:

“Therefore, it feels right that now that the season is approaching, we can run camps to increase the speed and run more sprint-oriented training. There will be more lactate and shorter intervals at these camps,” said national team coach Anders Högberg to Langd.se at the “sprint camp” in Falun last year.

Now that you continue with the same plan this year, does that mean it was a successful outcome?

“We made a huge improvement last year, and there are many reasons for that, not just that we split the group. But it was something we needed to address. We saw that we had many who made it through the qualifiers, but then we didn’t make it to the semi-finals. Now that we have reviewed the statistics from last winter, we have an increase of 150% in advancing to the semi-final and final compared to a year ago, which is, of course, very good.”

Which elements are you focusing on during the training camp in Meråker?

“This period of the year offers opportunities to train more specifically. Because there is a difference between what the distance skiers and the sprinters should do when we come to the Premiere in Gällivare (Sweden). So here we run more speed and shorter intervals. They have previously had 8–10-minute intervals. Now, we are down to the prologue times, i.e., three to four minutes. But many repetitions. Then, we do some intervals and explosive training, which is different from the training in Livigno. In addition, low altitude offers the opportunity to have less time between interval sessions. What we work with all the time is to build capacity. It is priority number one, and we are constantly working to get faster and further in sprint competitions”, says Högberg.

One of the key sessions during the camp in Meråker will be on Tuesday. Among others, Emil Iversen and Pål Trøan Aune (who impressed during Toppidrettsveka) have been invited.

“It will be a skating session at high speed. Prologue, and then there will be a sprint,” concludes Högberg.

Also Read: Anton Persson on his first roller ski intervals after surgery.

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