August 15, 2010 (Canmore, Alberta) – The Alberta Ski Team’s sprint camp finished up today at the Canmore Nordic Center. The camp, run by the Alberta World Cup Academy in their new role as the operators of the Alberta Ski Team, was a huge success. Young skiers got the chance to work with many Academy stars like Graham Nisikawa and Brittany Webster and others, doing lots of rollerski video work and sprint simulations, all in an effort to teach these up-and-comers the nuances and agility skills required to be a competitive sprinter in today’s ever-more-aggressive style of racing. As Academy coach and former Olympian Chris Jeffries describes it, being a good, aggressive sprinter is important no matter what the race discipline.

“It’s just so prevalent now, whether it’s a sprint race, or the end of a mass start…you don’t have so many opportunities to win anymore unless you’ve got a strong, dynamic aspect to your racing.” Indeed, watching Larsson sprint with the younger racers, the biggest difference (aside from his years) is his ability to change his gears and his turnover, something that is just as important if your countering a breakaway attempt in a 30km or shutting the door on your competition in the final hundred meters of a sprint heat.

The young skiers seemed to love it and couldn’t stop smiling – they were excited about training with a legend like Larsson. Even Friday’s bouts of hail and other nasty weather couldn’t deter them, as they just smiled right through it. Alberta Ski Team member Nico Tobias, who trains with Rocky Mountain Racers, was grinning from ear-to-ear as he described what the camp’s been like.

“The camp’s been awesome. Petter’s shown us a lot of awesome tips, and he’s a lot of fun to work with. If [this camp] happens again next year, I’ll definitely attend.”

Jeffries says he hopes camps like this, and working with Larsson, will get the younger racers fired up. “Petter’s involvement with the National team last year [working with Chandra Crawford in the lead-up to the Canmore World Cups] and building his relationship with those guys made this an easy transition.”

As well as his obvious credibility as a world-class athlete, Larsson also brings some unique coaching abilities to the table. “Even though athletes may hear the same things over and over, it’s important that they sometimes hear it in a different language,” says Jeffries, but he doesn’t mean Swedish. He’s talking about Larsson’s ability to translate his wealth of racing experience into easily digested feedback for the young Alberta racers.

This camp was just the first of many camps that the AWCA will run for the Alberta Ski Team.

“In just over a week we’ll have a traditional Haig Glacier camp the kids, and then in September we’ll do a 4-day dry land camp with the Alberta Ski Team and the Alberta Development Team.” Jeffries says the goal is to give the younger skiers access to more challenging training than they would otherwise get.

As for the rest of the AWCA squad, they’re off to Whistler for training camp of their own. “The AWCA guys are doing a 4-hour workout on their way out of town, and then they’re heading to Whistler. Petter and I will meet them there, as he’ll be working with us for six days in Whistler as well.”