Austrian team starts season with camp in Kaltern am See

The Austrian Nordic Combined team has kicked off their season preparation with their traditional training camp in Kaltern am See in South Tyrol. A diverse programme aims towards building basic endurance contains stand-up paddling, road biking, mountain tours and roller skiing.

In charge of the camp is cross-country coach Jochen Strobl, who is from South Tyrol himself and accompanies the team for five season already. Next to Strobl, six athletes are participating in the camp: Bernhard Gruber, Mario Seidl, Paul Gerstgraser, Lukas Greiderer and Martin Fritz. Lukas Klapfer is busy with his customs education and Philipp Orter was not able to make the camp for important personal reasons, while Franz-Josef Rehrl was stopped by a feverish cold.

“We are doing the camp in Kaltern for the fourth time already. The conditions here are just perfect for a diverse camp. The original plan was to have a focal point on road biking but unfortunately the weather did not really play along. So we created a diverse alternative programme with mountain tours, endurance training and standup paddling. The first bike tour features 120 km and 2500 metres of height difference. The area along the lake and up in the vineyards is just perfect for this.”

Next to the hard training in Kaltern, the athletes were also able to enjoy a guided tour to a local winery. The team will remain in Kaltern until Friday.