That is how training camps go: good weather, bad weather but regardless, training proceeds. Lavazè is the first of two summer altitude camps (the second at Font Romeu in September) for the Swedes in preparation for the Olympic season and Antholz’s 1600-meter thin air. Head Coach Johannes Lukas explained, “I wanted last year to be a dress rehearsal for the Olympic season training. It worked well and we had a good season so this year is virtually the same.” Lukas always takes the first few days “easy” with roller-skiing, combo sessions and running at a moderate pace before stepping up challenging 6-hour cycling tour, “simply focusing on volume,” and getting reacclimated to altitude.

No time was wasted: 3+-hour morning session, lunch, and rest followed by another late afternoon two hours. Train, eat, sleep, repeat; that’s the training camp mantra.

“That’s why I am the coach!”

After the usual shooting drills and a warm-up loop the second day, the Swedish staff checked blood lactate levels, making sure the effort was a managed and not too hard. Sebastian Samuelsson told Lukas before the check that his would be “1.1, I know my body.” Lukas predicted 1.4; the test meter read 1.4. To which he joked with Samuelsson, “That’s why I am the coach, and you are the athlete!”

After a morning focused on endurance and shooting, the afternoon switched to pure endurance with some core strength thrown in for good measure. Lukas explained, “We are using extra short poles today to engage and strengthen the core. Next week, we will use longer poles, putting more upper body in use.”

1000 meters of climbing

A drive down from the high plateau found the dozen athletes at the 2026 Olympic Cross-country venue in Tesero. 30 minutes of double-poling in the flat valley morphed into another hour and a half of relentlessly steady climbing back from the valley’s 800-meter altitude to Lavazè’s 1808 meters. “The men will go all the way to the hotel at the top; the women will get in their two hours but won’t get quite all the way.”

Following the one-week Swedish Olympic Camp in Crete, the team stays in Italy for almost three weeks: two weeks in Lavazè and six days in Anterselva. Thinking about the upcoming Olympic Winter Games, Lukas explained, “Going to Anterselva will be good way to end this camp. We plan to do mostly roller skiing and intensity, getting more used to the new tracks and staying in the hotel we always do. It will be a nice mental break that will make everyone feel more relaxed.”