FasterSkier

Tag: Finnish national team

  • Dalen Moves on to Coaching Marathoners: ‘It’s Time to Go for New Challenges’

    Dalen Moves on to Coaching Marathoners: ‘It’s Time to Go for New Challenges’

    Magnar Dalen in 2011 (Wikimedia Commons) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/43/Magnar_Dalen_2011-03-04.jpg/1280px-Magnar_Dalen_2011-03-04.jpg
    Magnar Dalen in 2011 (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

    We haven’t seen the last of Magnar Dalen. After eight years as head coach of the Finnish National Ski Team, Dalen, 50, saw an end to his contract in March, and was replaced earlier this month by Reijo Jylhä, 53, and Eero Hietanen, 51. Each signed four-year contracts, but Dalen was retained as a personal coach for Anne Kyllönen, according to The Ilta-Sanomat.

    The new head coach, Jylhä held the position before Dalen, leading the national team from 2001 to 2006, when Dalen came on. Hietanen, the team’s new manager, assisted Dalen from 2006 to 2010. In 2010, Dalen was named Finnish Sports Gala Coach of the Year.

    In an email to FasterSkier, Dalen explained he anticipated change at the end of last season.

    “[I] have been more or less ready last year that this will be my last year in Finland,” he wrote. “It’s time to go for new challenges. And for Finland to continue whit [sic] domestic coaches.”

    He said his retirement after eight years might not be a record for Finland, “but not many have been for 8 years in a row,” he wrote. “I am happy about [these] years, many have reached gold medals, like Kuitunen, Saarinen, Heikkinen, Muranen, Roponen, Jauhojärvi, Ivo Niskanen. Other whit medals are Kerttu Niskanen, Krista Lahtenmaki. The future is bright for skiteam Finland.”

    While he has yet to officially announce his plans for next year, Dalen told the Sanomat he’ll be a private coach for Kyllönen. He told FasterSkier he’ll also work with a private marathon team, organizing trips to races, taking care of equipment and wax, coaching certain athletes “litlebit [sic] of many things. Still things are coming to the table.

    After the 2015 World Championships in Falun, he expects to look for national-team work again.

    “[I] have worked in Norway, Sweden, Finland …. time for something new, challenging and difficult,” he wrote. “My goal is always to help athletes to realise their dreams.”

    As for other coaching changes among international teams, wife-and-husband duo Guri and Tor Arne Hetland left the Swiss Ski Team separately after four years with the squad. While Guri, the former head coach, was unsure of her next move, Tor Arne was hired as a Canadian World Cup coach.

    In their place, Slovakia’s Ivan Hudac took the reigns of Switzerland’s World Cup Team, and Swiss-Ski was expected to hire another coach to assist him.

    In Germany, Frank Ullrich remains head coach, assisted by Stefan Dotzler (women’s coach), Bernd Raupach (sprint coach) and Cuno Schreyl (men’s coach), the team’s World Cup coaches each in charge of one of three training bases in Oberstdorf, Ruhpolding and Oberhof. Andreas Schlütter was promoted to sports manager.

    France’s head coach Christophe Deloche resigned, leaving Francois Faivre to work as the men’s team manager with women’s manager Anaël Huard.  According to FIS News, the men’s sprint coach position has not yet been filled.

    After several years as Italy’s head coach, Silvio Fauner left the team and Giuseppe Chenetti was selected to replace him, with the help of World Cup coaches Paolo Riva and Constantin Pierluigi. Sandro Pertile became nordic sports director, and  Marco Selle will coach the junior team.

  • Randall sheds training wheels in first international roller ski race

    Randall sheds training wheels in first international roller ski race

    Askim, NORWAY – Kikkan Randall (USST) was treated to several new experiences at the Norwegian roller ski cup opener this weekend. Not only did Randall destroy her competition leaving a half-minute gap down to second place on the uphill time trial, she also learned to race on fast wheels – the sink or swim way.

    “I have only raced on roller skis in Anchorage before and on regular wheels.  So this was my first time for both the fast wheels and for the international competition,” Randall said, noting that the decision to race was somewhat of a whim. She is staying with her friend Ella Gjømle Berg while in Norway, and she thought the race sounded like a fun change of pace from the regular training diet.

    “Ella was invited to the roller ski race, and when she told (the organizers) I would be in town, I was invited too.  I figured a chance to race with some top Norwegian skiers and to test out roller ski racing on fast wheels would be a fun challenge.  And it sure was!  Two great races that made for good training,” said Randall.

    But the wheels and the competition were only two of the new elements in terms of roller ski racing. The race formats were new to her as well, and that added to the experience, Randall said. The 200-meter sprint qualifier was over before you knew it, and the uphill time trial had its own challenges.

    “The competition formats were fun.  The 200m sprint took about 24 seconds, so you had to be really on your game from the start,” said Randall, explaining that the sprint was only the beginning. The afternoon featured an 1130-meter beast of an uphill time trial.

    “The uphill sprint was tough! Guro (Strøm Solli) called it an ‘acid party,’ and it was definitely true,” said Randall.

    But in the right atmosphere and framework, nothing is too hard for Randall.

    “I had a fantastic time. I was impressed with the high level of organization.  The announcer sounded just like Kjell Erik Kristiansen so I felt almost like I was at a world cup race,” Randall said.

    After the race, Randall and her friend Ella Gjømle Berg headed to Sognefjellet to join the Norwegian and Finnish ski teams for some snow time. Randall will stay there for the next few days getting as much snow time as she can before heading back to Oslo for a few more days with Gjømle Berg’s family and returning to the U.S.

    Kikkan Randall and Ella Gjoemle Berg at Sognefjellet after the roller ski events in Askim on Saturday, June 5.
    Kikkan Randall won both the sprint and the uphill time trial at the Norwegian roller ski cup events in Askim, Norway, on June 5.