xc-ski.de interview with Teresa Stadlober

Interview by Mario Felgenhauer @xc-ski.de

With 12th place, the Austrian Teresa Stadlober is the most successful German-speaking athlete of last season in the overall World Cup of cross-country skiers. We asked her about her season, her father Alois and her goals.

Teresa, how are you after the short trip to Canada? Have you already overcome the jet lag?

Thank you I'm good. The long season and especially the final in Quebec has been very much torn by my strength.

With the Quebec race, your most successful season has come to an end. Sixth and eighth place at the World Cup, place twelve in the overall World Cup. What is your personal conclusion?

The season with the World Cup in Lahti could not have been better for me. The World Cup was simply fantastic. In the Skiathlon and in the 30km I could call up my potential and join in the front. As an athlete, I am delighted to be able to run my best race on Day X. In the World Cup it was my goal to be more consistent and to improve on the last season in the overall World Cup. With 12th place in the World Cup, I'm very satisfied, the sprint is still my weak spot and there I would like to qualify next year.

The Scandinavians have once again dominated the season. Do you still see chances of breaking into their phalanx in the next few years and running on the podium in one race or another?

Each athlete wants to be at the podium at least once in their career. My goal is to get closer and closer to the podium in the coming years, and finally to be on top. Two or three years ago, I was much further from the podium and therefore also from the Norwegians. This season, however, has shown that I was able to catch up and I hope that next year I will not only be able to catch up but also overtake.

In the past, you were known as a stronger classic skier. In the meantime, you are delivering strong results in both techniques. Have you been more busy with skating or did it come by itself?

It always annoyed me that I never had constant good races in skating. Then last year in Canmore during Ski Tour Canada 10 km skate I was 7th and I thought this is possible! After the last season, I trained for four weeks on snow and concentrated on skating. And since I've already noticed that I've made progress and that continued throughout the summer training and also in the winter.

For the complete interview at xc-ski.de click HERE.