A little behind the scenes of the men's national team's fiasco season, Truls Gisselman had his breakthrough.
From not even being selected for the national team when the season began, he went on to earn an Olympic spot and had the race of his life when he finished seventh in the skiathlon. With that, he became the best Swedish male skier at the Olympics.
"It means more than you think to get to a race like that. To show myself that, when I have a good day, I can be there and fight for medals individually. A step like that makes you even more motivated to put in the time and work required to get even better," he says.
“Must be wrong sometime”
But it wasn't a new revolutionary training method or dietary change that was behind the development, quite the opposite.
As a junior, it's easy to get stressed out. You want to do extremely well, you sit around reading about everything to do with training, whether a three and a half or four hour training session is optimal, and so on. But the truth is pretty boring, it's continuity and not too advanced training that gives results over time.
Maybe junior Truls Gisselman needed to hear that?
Maybe, there were people who tried. But I think you have to test yourself when you're younger, feel where the boundaries are. You have to end up wrong at some point to learn and absorb what works.
What do you feel you are better at now than you were a year ago?
You can talk a lot about training and the physical, but I think the mental part is the big part. I had a tough start to the season last year, then it's easy to get a lot of pressure and stress. Then it's important to believe in yourself and that it doesn't become a negative spiral, that security is stronger with me.
“Aiming a little higher”
The national team is at pre-season camp in Torsby when Truls Gisselman meets TT and there is still a long way to go until the competition season starts. But the 25-year-old is of course already looking forward to the World Championships in his hometown of Falun.
The main goal is to get there, to begin with, it's absolutely nothing I take for granted. But it's clear, when I've fought for an individual medal at the Olympics, I'll aim a little higher next time.
Age: 25 years.
Place of birth: Älvros, Härjedalen municipality.
Club: Rehns BK.
Merits: Bronze in the World Cup relay and best Swede in the 2026 Olympics with a seventh place in skiathlon.
