Maja Dahlqvist interview
Maja Dahlqvist
The hard part is keeping up between the races
Maja Dahlqvist on recharging.
Cross-country skier Maja Dahlqvist has an impressive collection of podiums in the World Cup, and this winter finally saw the first individual World Cup victory of her career. She also got her second consecutive World Championship gold in the team sprint. Maja trains a lot in distance skiing, but is at her strongest in sprinting. A key to managing sprints is what you do between races. There are four heats in one day, if you make it all the way to the final.
“It's not always easy to know how much to keep going during breaks. Between the first heat, the prologue, and the quarter-final, there are often a couple of hours during which you can eat something and take it easy. But then you have to get back up to speed and keep going between races. And you have to be prepared for all weather conditions," says Maja.
It's important to dress appropriately in anticipation of the next race. When it comes to gloves, it's important to try to keep a comfortable temperature at all times, not to get cold and not to sweat.
"My hands are generally pretty cold. If it's below minus 5, I like to use mittens during breaks and warm-ups. Usually, I use a model called Women's W.S. Breeze Mitt. I have racing gloves in my hydration belt. I put them on just before the start, and then I change back as soon as I've crossed the finish line again."
Maja Dahlqvist doesn't experiment with gloves unnecessarily. She has a favourite model: the Ergo Grip Race Cut 5-finger, and she uses it as often as possible.
“It's super important to have a comfortable grip around the poles, and I really like my pair of Race Cut, so I use them for both training and racing. Of course, if it's really cold on sprint days, it's good to have a pair of XC Over Mitts close at hand. The dialogue with Hestra is great, they listen to my comments and are happy to suggest different models for me to try. And I’ve recently started playing golf too, so it’s great that Hestra has golf gloves.”
