In this article, Team Engcon’s new recruit talks about the perfect race that gave him the victory at Vasaloppet, indoor training, working full-time combined with his elite training and racing program, and the Pro Team change.

Monday was presentation day in Östersund, Sweden, as Team Engcon met for the first training camp of the new season. Apart from revealing the Ski Classics Season XVI lineup, threshold interval training on roller skis (7×10 minutes) was also included in the program.

Read More: Team Engcon for Season XVI

For newcomers Torleif Syrstad and Anikken Gjerde Alnæs, it’s the first sessions with the new Pro Team (a more extended interview with Gjerde Alnæs will be published here on ProXCskiing.com later this week).

The 30-year-old Norwegian Torleif Syrstad debuted in Ski Classics in 2016 and was on the podium at Vasaloppet in 2019 and 2020. But it was only during Season XV that Syrstad took the step up to the very highest position on the podium, at the time as a member of Lager 157 Ski Team.

The breakthrough happened during a season in which he did not compete at all before Christmas. This is because, as part of his training as a physiotherapist, he works full-time in Meråker, Norway.

“It was a very different season, and I didn’t know how I would stand against the competitors when I returned to the first race in Toblach (3 Zinnen Ski Marathon). But already there, I got the answer that I was hanging on well. That was a victory in itself”, says Syrstad, who, especially before Christmas, trained more than half of the sessions indoors in a double poling machine.

“Well, I like variety, but I think I’m one of the skiers who most like to train indoors. And this winter in Meråker, it felt like it was either raining and icy or it was 20 below zero. You have an excellent overview of the training load in the double poling machine; you get a lot of data and a quick answer on where you are and how you are doing. Plus, with the equipment, you have a very time-efficient training. It was a clear advantage last winter when I worked full time in parallel with skiing,” says Syrstad to Langd.se.

How much did you change in training for last season?

“I would say that the big change came two years ago. And then it was Jørgen Ulvang (who took over as the new Pro Team Director for Team Engcon this season) who helped me with those changes. The fact that we now get to work together again was an important part of why I am now switching teams to Team Engcon. It will be very nice to work together again. And it’s always exciting with something new; it gives motivation and new stimulus.”

Also Read: Ulvang on a new position: “An exciting challenge”

What have you and Jørgen changed?

“It was about learning to control the training and training load in a good way on my own. In addition, not to train too much, but at the same time not too little. From August, I won’t be working full-time anymore, which creates new opportunities to train more and rest more. It’s important not to look for too much,” says Syrstad, who, on the first Sunday in March, in the 100th edition of Vasaloppet, experienced what all athletes dream of: the perfect race.

Read More – Torleif Syrstad: “I finally executed a perfect ski race!”

If it is possible to be “superior” in a race with 15.000 participants, Torleif Syrstad is:

“I knew the form was good, but after the races in Orsa Grönklitt two weeks earlier, I decided I would be more offensive. And that was the idea, but that breakaway already in the first hill was probably nothing I intended. Alvar (Myhlback, teammate at Lager 157 Ski Team) said five minutes before the start, ‘now we are pushing on the first hill.’ When I saw the field breaking up, I pushed to be at the top. Then we did not know if it would last,” says Syrstad, who broke away solo with just over 20km left.

But it was already clear long before who was the strongest skier of the day.

“I felt so strong that I could have ‘broke’ 15 kilometers earlier, but I waited as long as possible because I wanted Alvar on the podium with me. And it worked out. It was a fantastic day. It’s the best race I’ve ever done. Then there are a lot of coincidences, and everything has to be right; it did that day,” says Syrstad, who just over a month later followed with a victory in the longest race of the season: Ski Classics Grand Finale Janteloppet.

Read More: Syrstad shines at Janteloppet 2024

What is your goal for the coming season?

“I want to win ski races. It would be great to win Vasaloppet again. But then I don’t just want to win the longest races, but also the 50 or 60-km long races. And then there are some bibs that I am interested in. Yellow and the red-black (the Champion and Climb bibs),” concludes the new Pro Team athlete for Team Engcon.