An extraordinary training session for two Norwegian teenagers

Jakob Skillingstad and Emil Ottesen, two young Nordic Combined athletes from Trondheim impressed coaches and Olympic gold medallists alike with a slightly unusual training session the 16- and 15-year-olds took.

“I was speechless, then I was a little irritated, then impressed”, Andre Nyeng Olsen who coaches the Nordic Combined talents in Granåsen Skiteam, is quoted in Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten.

Skillingstad and Ottesen used the night of May 1st to challenge their friends, who were out for the beginning of the  “Russ” celebration, a traditional celebration for Norwegian upper secondary school pupils in their final spring semester. The challenge: whoever can last longer - the partying pupils of Skillingstad and Ottesen out training on their rollerskis?

In the end, the two teenagers trained for twelve hours, beginning their session at 19:30 in the evening and returning home at 7:30 in the morning. They completed a 145 km tour and won the challenge.

The idea came from the fact that several of their friends were looking forward to "going out and rolling" night to May 1st. Then the combined talents decided that they, toom should go out and "roll".

“I was just annoyed for a moment that they hadn't talked to me about it. It must be planned in a training plan next time. But it looks like it has gone well, still we have to adapt the training the next few days, coach Nyeng Olsen said. “I didn’t think it was possible to do this. The two showed what they are made of, this is a fantastic training culture.”

“We wanted to try something new”, Ottesen said. “It has never been done before, so we didn’t know if it would work. It was a heavy, painful and nice trip.”

“It was a good mental session but maybe not something we should do every week”, Skillingstad added. “It was certainly good to lie down afterwards.”

Olympic gold medallist Jørgen Graabak praised the stunt on social media.