Many coaches heading to Antholz are Olympic veterans, but several are Olympic coaching rookies including France’s Simon Fourcade, Germany’s Sverre Olsbu Roeiseland and Finland’s Erik Torneus-Kulstad. Each has a distinctive coaching style, personality and background, but for all three, normalcy and calm are key to Olympic success.

Fourcade, “Quite relaxed as a coach”

French Men’s Coach Fourcade who competed in three Olympic Winter Games: 2006, 2010, and 2014, understands the pressures and pitfalls. Going to Vancouver 2010 wearing the Yellow Bib, he struggled in the competitions. “I will never feel any pressure like that as a coach.”

“I think I accomplished what I wanted to accomplish during my sport career, with lot of pressure during that time. After that, I now feel quite relaxed now that I am a coach. I know that although I have the biggest responsibility of the team on my shoulders, the result does not depend on me…I feel quite relaxed whenever we have a race. I think this helps the athletes, because I do not pass on any pressure to them.”

Olsbu Roeiseland’s Low-key Approach

Olsbu Roeiseland comes to the Games with extensive experience: three season guiding the German women and five seasons leading the very successful Norwegian IBU Cup team. He is taking a low-keyed approach to Antholz for himself and the team that includes four first-time Olympians.

“We learned with a lot of rookies at the World Championships that normal is sometimes the best way. Not to make it bigger; the Olympics are different because there is a lot of other stuff going on, and it is only every four years. It is important to do the training and everything else quite normally; not put too much pressure on the rookies…To have the mindset that it is the same race, same loops, same targets, same people and we do it for fun. We will go into the Olympics with good energy and make the competitions fun with good team spirit.”

Like Fourcade, Olsbu Roeiseland emphasized, “Staying calm is important for all. If the coaches are stressed, then the nerves go directly to the athletes.”

Torneus-Kulstad, “Stay the same; that is the best recipe”

Torneus-Kulstad comes to Antholz in his fourth year of guiding Finland’s team to a more than respectable level. They currently sit 9th and 6th in the Men’s and Women’s Nations Cup, with Suvi Minkkinen second in the World Cup Total Score. Like his French and German counterparts, his goal revolves around keeping the atmosphere and expectations as normal as possible. “In every situation, I will just try to do the same, not do anything extra. The season prepared us very well, coming in with more expectations. The work stayed the same; we’ve had very good results. Going into the Olympics, we will just try to stay the same. It will be hard, but I think it is the best recipe.”

As for the athlete’s approach, “It is just biathlon. I want them to find the way to do a good race individually; if someone gives you the chance to get something really good out of it, then we take it.”

Admitting the Olympics are a much bigger stage than the World Cup, his message remains positive, upbeat and playful. “I know we will all feel the extra things so it will be to just remind everyone every single day that, ‘this is cool, let’s go do what we can do.’”

Keep Calm and Carry On

The Olympic Winter Games are an exciting, pressure-packed multi-faceted extravaganza, but the best route to success according to these three coaches is to, “Keep Calm and Carry On.”

Photos: IBU/ Christian Manzoni, Nordic Focus