Lars Heggen Responds Strongly to Coach and Expert Criticism

– I messed up a bit, but it was the first time. Let’s hope there will be more, so I can practice a bit.

What Lars Heggen is talking about is the art of popping champagne corks. Exactly that has not been part of the training plan.

But suddenly it became a necessary quality when the great talent from Harestua in Hadeland took his very first podium in the World Cup in cross-country skiing.

Only the best cross-country skier of all time could beat him in Sunday’s sprint in Toblach. Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, Heggen and Oskar Opstad Vike soaked each other in noble drops after the Tour de Ski opening.

– Generation change

– There is a generational change going on, if you look at the average age on the podium. They are quite young who are coming up now, so I just have to use every opportunity I get to beat them, says Klæbo to NRK, referring to the fact that Heggen and Vike are respectively 20 and 21 years old.

– There are not many days before they both beat me, so I have to start betting on distance, he says.

For Heggen’s part, however, it wasn’t just praise to be had after the big international breakthrough.

Expert criticism

In the quarter-finals, he received some clear messages from NRK’s ​​commentators. Only when he suddenly ended up at the back of the field when rounding.

– He is a bit cautious, a bit junior, said Jann Post.

– Yes, it was a bit unfamiliar, Fredrik Aukland insisted.

The NRK duo also didn’t like that Heggen didn’t give his best to the finish line in the heat. He secured second place, which gave him advancement, narrowly ahead of the considerably more exposed third place.

– He could easily have taken four more touches before he started to slow down, said Fredrik Aukland.

See the situation here:

“A little yellow card” by the national team coach

National team coach Arild Monsen also noticed that rush.

– I gave a bit of a yellow card. For six hundredths was the margin. And I said “don’t come and tell me you’re in control of six hundredths”. It was a bit tight, but it went well, says Monsen to NRK.

– A boy in training?

– You can say that, but he is a great boy, says Monsen.

Nevertheless, the criticism does not bite the young protagonist.

– It was calculated, so I don’t agree. Everything was calculated, says Heggen to NRK.

– Monsen still wants you to take all the roofs in next time, what do you say to that?

– We’ll see, then. I think it was good scrubbing, so I’ll continue with it, he says with a smile.

Warned by Klæbo

Johannes Høsflot Klæbo breaks into a smile when he hears about Heggen’s response to the criticism.

– Generally, it is an advantage to go all the way to the finish line. But we have much better control than those watching, and it probably feels worse for them, he points out.

However, Klæbo himself does not forget a costly experience from when he lost to Aleksandr Bolsjunov in the World Cup opener in Ruka in 2018. That is why he has a message.

– We have to get him not to do what I did in Ruka, to turn the wrong way!

Regardless: Jann Post, Fredrik Aukland, Arild Monsen and Johannes Høsflot Klæbo are full of admiration for the way Heggen has taken on the world’s elite.

– I am incredibly impressed by him. He takes the podium today, and he is already a thoroughbred runner, he is also a distance runner. We will get a lot of pleasure from him in the future, says Arild Monsen.

– Exclamation mark

– He is fast and has what is needed in today’s cross-country skiing. Just follow along and put an exclamation point after that name there. I have put him as captain of my team now on fantasy this weekend, says Johannes Høsflot Klæbo.

Heggen doesn’t talk down expectations either. He does not hide that he felt ready for the podium.

Now he also wants to beat Johannes Høsflot Klæbo.

– I can hope that there will be more opportunities, then I will take him eventually, he says.