May 19, 2013 – Puerto Alcudia in Mallorca and Riksgränsen are going to be the first locations of the new cross-country season for the Swedish national team. “The men will be biking and running in southern latitudes while women want to ski on snow north of the Arctic Circle,” said Sweden’s head coach Rikard Grip.

(l-r) Ida Ingemarsdotter, Emma Wiken, Anna Haag, Charlotte Kalla © Nordic Focus

On Tuesday the national team gathered in Värmdölandet in Stockholm to plan and carry out activities together with the Swedish Olympic Committee.

“The atmosphere and spirit in the team is beautiful. Both athletes and team officials are fully motivated,” claimed Grip. “We have the basic plan ready, now we have to make a really good job to deliver successful results in the Olympics.”

The men’s national team is led by newly appointed coach and former athlete Mats Larsson. Like last year Marcus Hellner and Co. will kick off the preparation for next season in Mallorca. The aim of the first training camp of the off-season is to get ready for hard workouts that will come later in the year.

“We will start training in an easy way in a pleasant climate. We do not want to start with long tough running workouts. Instead, we are going to use biking a lot to get ready for the volume training,” explained Grip. The men’s squad will be enjoying the Spanish sun from May 18-25.

The women’s team with Ida Ingemarsdotter, Charlotte Kalla and Emma Wikén begin preparation for the Olympic winter in Riksgränsen where snow conditions for skiing are still very good. The women’s squad has a new coach, Mattias Persson. “We had a good camp in Riksgränsen last year and the girls prefer a skiing camp to be able to test a lot of material,” added Grip. The women’s team will be training in Riksgränsen from May 18-24.