Petter Eliassen och jag vid Gardemoen flygplats i Norge 7 maj 2015
Jag telefonintervjuade Petter Eliassen tidigare i veckan och nu ligger texten ute på Visma Ski Classics hemsida. Det är alltid trevlig att prata med Petter. Väldigt ödmjuk kille. Jag gick också på universitet i Alaska med hans sambo Sigrid Aas. Ska bli spännande att se om han vinner den internationella långloppscupen för tredje året i rad.
För övrigt tror jag Marcus Johansson, Oscar Persson och Oskar Kardin är Sveriges tre bästa långloppsåkare inom ett par år. Bland norrmännen som ännu inte är helt i toppen tror jag att Andreas Nygaard snart är redo att spurta hem stora segrar.
Se början av texten om Petter Eliassen nedan, resten kan läsas på hemsidan.
Petter Eliassen – As much running as rollerskiing
The last two seasons Petter Eliassen has become the Visma Ski Classics champion. Now his is preparing to take his third title. In this interview you can read about his goals, his VO2 max, his thoughts about the new race schedule, his fall training, his favorite workout in August and the length of his ski poles.
Text: Erik Wickström. Photo: Magnus Östh
Before the season of 2015, Petter Eliassen decided to switch focus from traditional distances to put all effort into long distance skiing. Thomas Alsgaard’s Team LeasePlan recruited Petter and he set up the goal to “get used to Visma Ski Classics and over time fight for the podium in individual races”.
Petter certainly “got used to” Visma Ski Classics. He is always humble and he keeps a low profile in most situations, the complete opposite of his namesake Northug. With four consecutive victories in König Ludwig Lauf, Vasaloppet, Birkebeinerrennet and Årefjällsloppet, respectively, he won the overall title in 2015. Last winter, he repeated the success and conquered the yellow jersey after winning Jizerská, La Diagonela and Kaiser Maximilian Lauf. The latter part of the season wasn’t as successful as previous year. He got sick both prior to Vasaloppet and prior to Årefjällsloppet.
Petter Eliassen efter Birken 2016. Foto: Magnus Östh.
Now he is looking forward to yet another title.
For some Visma Ski Classics athletes, the individual races are the biggest goals. Vasaloppet, Marcialonga and Birkebeinerrennet have become the most prestigious races, especially Vasaloppet. But Eliassen has a slightly different approach.
– Of course I would like to win Marcialonga. It is the only one of “the big three” that I haven’t won. It is a difficult race. But other than that I don’t want to put all my eggs in one basket. All races are important for me. I am not so focused on results, instead I want to do as good job as possible when I am on a starting line. That might help me to be successful in the overall standings with many races of a different level of prestige.
Läs resterande delen av artikeln (bl a om stavlängd och syreupptagningsförmåga) på Visma Ski Classics hemsida.
