Team Ramudden was sensational last winter on the women’s side as Lina Korsgren won the Champion competition and Ida Dahl was 2^nd and Jenny Larsson 6^th, but now it seems that their male skiers are on their way to the top. Max Novak has performed extremely well during the roller-ski race season, and his teammate Johannes Eklöf is not far behind.

Tomorrow’s Orsa2Levi podcast, hosted by Teemu Virtanen, talks to Eklöf, 26, who managed to be in the top 10 three times and finished 11^th in the overall results last season. This talented skier is now gazing upon a bright future, and it would surprise no one if he became a household name in Visma Ski Classics come the next winter. He is now in the middle of an extensive roller-ski racing period and getting ready for tomorrow’s Alliansloppet in Sweden, 48 km.

“Max and I have been traveling around in Sweden and Norway doing these roller-ski races, and it’s been fun. I think it’s great training, and since the training season is so long this year, from June to January, it’s good to divide it into two parts. The first part is before the races and the second part is after the races. It also motivates you when you have some races to do, and you can also check how your summer training has succeeded. Then you can focus on going the extra mile in the fall if needed,” Eklöf analyzes the importance of roller-ski races.

Last season was the first one for Eklöf to fully concentrate on long distance skiing, and he was not quite sure what to expect.

“Last summer, I felt really good and wished that I could be close to the top, even podium in some races. I think that my first season was a good starting point, just having the evenness throughout the season. I did well, but maybe I was a little invisible with my results, but it was a good start. My goal is to be on the podium at least once next season.”

Eklöf is also known as a devoted skier with a heavy training load. His training hours have been well over 1000 in recent years, and he thinks that hard training fits him well.

“My overall perspective has been to have a progressive journey towards my goals in the future. I have just trained a little bit more every year, and when you do that for a long time, you end up doing quite many hours. I think it has suited me since I have become better every year. The more I train, the better I become. You must train as much as you, but you still have to be able to do the hard sessions and have a focus on them as well.”

On tomorrow’s podcast, you will learn more about Eklöf’s training methods, hear his thorough analysis on the last season, find out what he does when not skiing and get to know him up close and personal. The Orsa2Levi episode can be found on all possible podcast platforms and on the Visma Ski Classics site.