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Hoping for citius and fortius performances on the Beijing Olympics, Canada’s cross-country skiers might be going altius in January.
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Which is to say they are going to be coaching at residence fairly than competing on the World Cup circuit as a result of all occasions that month might be held at elevations decrease than the Beijing 2022 venue, which sits at 1,700 metres above sea stage.
“We all know now we have to be ready for that,” mentioned Eric de Nys, Nordiq Canada’s Subsequent-Gen coach. “If we had been to race all via January, the venues are at decrease altitude, so we might be at a detriment going into the Video games. We wouldn’t be within the driver’s seat. Staying at residence, we’ll be doing our preparation camp at Silver Star, Sovereign Lake, which is on the proper altitude to ensure that us to place our greatest foot ahead in Beijing. That’s the large professional.”
Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre close to Vernon, B.C. is 1,670 metres above sea stage, a great match for Beijing and a tad greater than the workforce’s regular residence base on the Canmore Nordic Centre in Alberta, which is at 1,400 metres. Extended coaching at excessive elevation has been proven to extend the oxygen carrying capability of blood, which contributes to improved coronary heart and muscle perform, and subsequently higher efficiency in an endurance sport like cross-country snowboarding.
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The U.S. cross-country workforce will attend a pre-Olympic camp in Livigno, Italy for about two weeks previous to the Video games. Livigno is at 1,800 metres. The Czech nationwide workforce did some curler ski coaching there earlier this yr. The Austrian, Swedish and Finnish nationwide groups have been coaching on the Val Senales glacier in Italy at 3,000 metres, so too some members of the Norwegian and Russian groups. Polish, French and Ukrainian athletes have been at Ramsau am Dachstein, Austria at 2,700 metres and the Swiss workforce headed for Davos at 1,800 metres.
There’s extra profit to be derived by coaching as excessive as 3,000 metres, however the Canadian workforce opted for a secure home atmosphere that basically matches the Olympic competitors venue’s elevation.
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“Maybe in a really perfect world when there wasn’t COVID we might have chosen to do our preparation camp in Europe,” mentioned de Nys, including that the profit would have been easy accessibility to one-off World Cup races for these needing to maintain the competitors edge sharp. “It’s nonetheless a really fluid scenario with COVID. We all know if we do it at Sovereign we’re in a great place mentally, bodily, and we will get every little thing completed there nicely.”
There’s nevertheless a draw back to skipping the World Cup in January, or a minimum of the potential for one.
“The con is that via that interval we aren’t essentially doing any racing and generally racing helps athletes each get into the mindset and get their physiology ready,” mentioned de Nys. “To be able to fight that, we will set up a while trials and simulations, and that’s what now we have to do.”
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Provided that cross-country snowboarding is primarily a person pursuit, there may be not a one-size-fits-all coaching or competitors plan.
“The arduous half with physiology is everyone seems to be completely different,” mentioned males’s nationwide workforce member Russell Kennedy, a 30-year-old who has World Cup expertise courting again greater than a decade. “I do fairly nicely at elevation, so I’d wish to go greater than Silver Star, to be trustworthy. I’d wish to go as excessive as I can go. Silver Star is on the similar elevation (as Beijing) however you do get extra profit if you happen to go greater.
“And that is the place it will get complicated. You wish to assist but it surely’s a person sport and it’s a must to do what’s finest for you a little bit bit.”
He mentioned he gained’t really feel at a drawback by not racing on the World Cup circuit in January.
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“At this level in my profession I’ll most likely be OK. … I do know what works for me and what doesn’t. I ought to be effective. I can discover races if I would like it and I’ll know if I don’t. As a youthful athlete, that’s one thing I want I’d identified earlier. You need to have this strategy of determining what works for you and there are all the time going to be individuals telling you that is the way in which to do it and that is the way in which to not do it and also you’re actually the one individual who’s going to search out that out by making an attempt. So that you type of need to make errors in some unspecified time in the future. I can’t say if it should work 100 per cent for everybody.”
dbarnes@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/sportsdanbarnes
