Sophia Laukli wins Alpe Cermis after winning Sierre Zinal this past summer
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I´m sure that I´m not the only one who is aware of the phenomenon that is Sophia Laukli. She just won the ultimate XC ski climbing test, Alpe Cermis, in an effortless looking way. This summer she crushed it at Sierre Zinal. In other words, an athlete that performs at the highest level in both sports.
As a training nerd I cannot help but try to convey some takeaways from her success. Her metabolic foundation as a skier probably gives her an edge compared to year round running, as she can put in more volume at higher metabolic intensities over the year. This reminds me of the training of Nils van der Poel, who built a huge general foundation on the bike and adaptated that over a few months of very specific skate training.
Of course, n=1, she picked her parents well and there´s lots of running in the life of a xc skier. But she hated running as a teenager and she still doesn´t even have a running coach. In other words, her running success seems to be as much a byproduct of her ski training as it could be.
For me personally it´s inspiring, as I don´t have the training time to go on long Skimo outings during the week, but can squeeze in 45-90 mins of skate skiing multiple times a week. I alwas considered it a second tier crosstraining modality as Skimo is more uphill specific, however, Laukli´s success suggests that XC skiiing is just fine as part of a smart program with some snow trail running, treadmill running and gym ME workouts.
Would love to hear what others think about this and would be curious what Scott would say about her rise in both discplines. With his XC ski background and expertise, few are as well positioned to interpret what is going on there.
Sophia Laukli’s win on the final stage of the Tour d’Ski up that 450m steep climb on the Alpine ski run is a really impressive accomplishment. I don’t know her or her training. However, I see that she is connected with and trained by a top Norwegian coaching program. I suspect that her summer running program is just part of her overall base-building approach, which can then be tuned to the higher intensity required in Nordic ski racing. Sophia also has a light body and small size that really helps her on courses with a lot of climbing. Nordic skiers have historically done well in off-season running, even when not specifically trained for running races. In other words, in the summer, they are just racing off their base. Several years ago, US Ski Nordic Ski Team member David Norris broke Kilian Jornets’ record at the Mountain Marathon in Alaska. Kilian needs no introduction. David is not so well known. He was a very good US skier but not world-class by any means, and he did this as part of his summer training program.
Accumulating a high volume of aerobic base training on your feet will always be helpful in any sport.
Scott
Thank you for adding this perspective. I wasn´t aware of more skiers that are able to compete in mountain running on a high level. I guess the lower impact/higher intensity of XC skiing allows of more accumulation of hard aerobic training, where the pounding running can start to limit the runner. The resultant fitness can than make for some excellent running, even if the athlete isn´t optimally adapted neuromuscularly to running.
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