Being an experienced skier both on traditional and long-distance, Petter Soleng Skinstad is a familiar face to cross-country skiing. After coming back from a short holiday season spent in Lebanon, ProXCskiing talked to the Norwegian skier to know his goals for next season and asked him to share some thoughts about the development of the Ski Classics circuit.

What have been the best and not-so-good moments of Season XII?

“The best moments of the season for me were being able to travel around and compete during a pandemic. The season’s worst moments were also traveling around and competing during a pandemic. Covid-19 has removed a big part of being a full-time skier, especially in a small team, since we’ve been keeping to ourselves and haven’t been able to enjoy the sport, friendships, and the beautiful places we go to as much as I would like.” 

“On the other hand, being a professional skier has allowed me to travel around even though it’s been a pandemic. Looking at the results, I had my best day during the Challengers event König Ludwig Lauf and my worst day when I stopped at Mångsbodarna at Vasaloppet.”

Can you describe your plans for the summer training season?

“I haven’t really started my summer training yet. I got Covid-19 at the beginning of May after letting my guard down after two and a half years of wearing a mask. I was sick for 15-20 days and have just started training again. From June, I hope to start training at 100%.” 

“I’ll be doing 90-100 hours of training each summer month. Most of the training will be on rollerskis, including rollerski races in June, July, August, and September in Norway and Sweden. I’ll also visit Sognefjellet and Torsby to do some training and testing with Madshus and Swix.”

You just returned from a trip to a destination not so common to Nordic skiers: Lebanon. Can you tell us a bit about your experience there? 

“The reason I went on holiday to Lebanon is my girlfriend. Her father was in the UN forces in the early 80s, so this trip was a walk down memory lane. It was a different holiday and a very, very nice one. I learned a lot, got to see a totally new country and area I didn’t know, and got introduced to a world I didn’t know anything about. Lebanon is a beautiful country with a history going back 8000-10000 years, and both the country and the people have a lot to offer. I would recommend it to everyone who would like a different holiday with great people, lots of good food, culture and traditions, and warm weather.”

You have been around traditional cross-country and long-distance skiing for a long time. You are certainly one of the authorities of our sport. What are your thoughts about the development of long-distance skiing? 

“Thank you! I think the most important part of developing long-distance skiing is to view the ski community as one big family and remove the rivalry between the World Cup and the National Teams and Ski Classics and the Pro Teams. We are all in love with the same sport, just different parts of it, and we should work together in making it even bigger and better.”

“I would like to see a long-distance skiing event in the World Championships, and I would like to see common weekends where you have both World Cup and Ski Classics in the same place. Why not have a World Cup weekend in Lillehammer during Birkebeinerrennet or a minitour in Liberec during Jizerska?” 

“I also think Ski Classics could learn from other FIS and ski events. Why not have our own minitours? Why can’t we have races in the evening and floodlights before the main race? We should keep looking at races such as the Prato Piazza Mountain Challenge, which was a great event, and looking at more two or even three-day races. I would also like to see more of the world included in both the World Cup and Ski Classics, as I know the new head of FIS is working on.” 

“All in all, I think Ski Classics plays an important part in cross-country skiing and the whole ski community. Together with alpine skiing and snowboarding to some degree, this is the only part of our sport where the amateurs could do the same as the professionals. Ski Classics is the cycling and running of the winter, with millions of people skiing in popular races and the tracks used for these kinds of races, and we should use that even more to our advantage. This is people’s skiing!” 

“In the years to come, I would also like to see some skate races in Ski Classics. ‘Classics’ shouldn’t mean just classic races but classics as we see in cycling. That’s why I would like to see races such as Engadin, Transjurassienne, American Birkebeiner, Skarverennet, and many others, being part of the Ski Classics calendar. We should celebrate our entire sport. This could possibly lead to more teams, more World Cup athletes, and more coverage in the media.”

You have a Spanish athlete on your team: Marta Cester. How did the idea of having her on Team Coop appear? Would you think it would be beneficial to include athletes from non-traditional skiing countries in Ski Classics Pro Teams?

“Ski Classics is a perfect way to get more nations involved in our beautiful sport. Marta Cester is the girlfriend of my good friend, or Spanish brother (hermano) as I call him, Imanol Rojo. She is one of the best skiers in Spain, and she won the Marxa Beret – Spain’s biggest long-distance skiing event. Marta hasn’t had a team around her like Imanol, so having her on the team has hopefully motivated her. Now, as the Covid-19 pandemic hopefully has come to an end, she can do more races in the future.”

Finally, what are your ambitions for next season? 

“My personal goal is to improve and to be able to show what I feel I have in me. I’ve had some good races in Ski Classics so far, but I don’t feel I’ve had any days better than 90% of my capacity. Hopefully, I can get the last 10% next season and have some days where my body, mind, and equipment will work 100% on the same day.” 

“As a team, we’re working on expanding it, and we have some exciting plans. We might have some exciting news coming this fall, but all I can say for now is that I hope that Team Coop will be a bigger and better team and an important part of Ski Classics and the future of our sport in the upcoming years.”