A Norwegian analysis tool offering athletes a better way to fine-tune their performance has become a hot topic in the ski community.

Biathlon talent Simon Hernes (19) has created Plotting.live, an analysis tool designed to better everyone—from recreational athletes to elites—ski faster through smarter pacing strategies. The response has exceeded all expectations.

Pacing strategies, race plans, and energy management are increasingly frequent topics in discussions about ski races, both in cross-country skiing and biathlon.

In simple terms, optimizing pacing during a race can significantly reduce overall race time.

“Proper pacing is a highly underrated way to go faster,” Hernes told Langrenn.com, adding: “For most people, the challenge is that they start too fast. What they need to do is start slower. Pacing analysis shows that many ski 30 seconds slower on the last lap compared to the first lap, even though they feel like they’re skiing consistently. Having access to a tool like this is extremely useful.”

Read more: Endurance in sports: Key insights for cross-country skiing

Not Just for the Elite

Until now, advanced analysis tools for pacing have primarily been reserved for elite athletes. Hernes, a student at Wang Top Sports Academy in Oslo, wanted to change that.

After attending a lecture on technology and how elites use it, he decided to develop his own analysis tool and make it accessible to everyone.

No sooner said than done—one month later, the first version was ready. Before the season started, Hernes made Plotting.live available to the public, including through the Biathlon Federation’s website.

The reception has been overwhelmingly positive. During the Norwegian Cup opener in December, the first race weekend when the tool was available, Hernes logged over 200 analyses.

“That was far beyond what I expected. Some users likely analyzed multiple times, but it shows that this is something people want,” Hernes said.

Now, he hopes to reach a wider audience, including the cross-country skiing community.

Compare Yourself to Rivals

The software uses data from GPS watches, allowing users to upload training files to the program, similar to platforms like Strava. Within the program, users can analyze where they gain or lose time on the course and how consistent their laps are.

However, Hernes’ Plotting tool goes a step further.

“In the new version, you can download other athletes’ activities. If you follow someone on Strava or Garmin, you can download their activity and compare it with your own. This allows you to see exactly where you gain or lose time compared to them,” he explained.

“Strava has a similar feature, but it’s much less accurate than my tool. Strava counts by whole seconds, so if you gain half a second in one area and another half second in another, it doesn’t show that. Instead, it rounds to the nearest second. With my tool, you can see exactly how much time you gain or lose in different parts of the course.”

Well-Received by the Federation

When Hernes approached the Biathlon Federation with his project and software, the response was very positive.

“They told me they use a similar tool to download and compare themselves with international competitors, but they found my tool very interesting,” Hernes said.

As a result, the Biathlon Federation has made the tool available on its website.

However, the response from Olympiatoppen (OLT) was different. When Hernes reached out to share his tool, he encountered limited interest.

“In my discussions with the Biathlon Federation, I understood that OLT didn’t want to share their tool externally due to strict rules about how it could and couldn’t be distributed.”

What did you think of that response?
“It’s actually positive for me. It means I don’t have to compete with them. They clearly have better resources to distribute their tool to skiers and biathletes. If they did, I wouldn’t have a market—everyone would just use OLT’s tool.”

Is this something you plan to make money from?
“That’s the plan.”

Free for Now

Although Hernes envisions commercializing his tool, introducing a payment model is still a way off.

“That will come eventually. Right now, if someone asks to test it, it’s free. For those who contact me and want to analyze ten races, it’s completely free. After that, I’ll consider implementing some sort of payment solution.”

Watch the webinar about Simon Hernes’ analysis tool HERE.