None of the Norwegian national teams have set up altitude training camps this season. Still, Johannes Høsflot Klæbo does, even though the World Championships 2023 in Planica, Slovenia, takes place at a lower altitude.

Ahead of the 2021/22 Olympic season, the national team ran three or four altitude gatherings for the elite teams. This year there will be none. The only altitude stays the teams get connected to the World Cup races in Davos in Switzerland and the Tour de Ski. 

But Klæbo is confident that altitude training will positively affect even if the championship takes place in the lowlands. Therefore, he sets up his altitude regime. He has now received approval for this from the national team management.

Three to four altitude stays before the season.

Klæbo plans to run three or four altitude stays of approximately three weeks each before the season starts in November.  

“I think I get even better (from altitude training). Then the future will show if I am right,” says Klæbo to TV2. 

He explains that the altitude regime he is running this year is partly an experiment and that the first time he intended to test the program, he was stopped by the corona.

“I had intended to test this before, but the pandemic stopped the experiment. Now I think the opportunity is there. Even though there are no championships in altitude this winter, I choose to run a full altitude program, simply to try to become an even better skier during the World Championships in Planica,” says Klæbo. 

He adds that this year’s altitude project is part of a long-term training plan.

“In my plan for altitude stays, it is also that these are preparations for the World Cup in Trondheim and the Olympics in Italy,” says Klæbo.

Petter Northug was also known for running extensive altitude regimes in the season run-up and believed these were an essential reason for the success. 

A key point for Klæbo.

Klæbo’s altitude plan was one of three critical topics during the negotiations on a new national team contract last week. The Norwegian Ski Association and Klæbo’s manager and father, Haakon Klæbo, did not agree until a few hours before Monday’s national team presentation.