Kristin Stafas Skistad went into hiding after the success

BEITOSTØLEN (VG) Kristin Stafas Skistad (24 years old) will not be disturbed. After her success last season, she has not been seen anywhere yet.

Skistad won four World Cup sprints in 12 days in March. Then she disappeared. But on Friday she returned to Beitostolen and won.

– She is a world-class runner, says coach Lage Sovenlund proudly after the win.

On 25 March, she ended the season by winning the sprint race in Lahti:

After that, she was home in Coonrod and trained. She stayed away from reporters. Both Skistad and the coach say they went undercover.

– Yes, we got peace and quiet, I chose it myself. I enjoy it, and see no reason to include it YouYouJournalists. Everywhere, says Skistad to VG and laughs.

But amid all the jubilation, there was a setback last season, as she finished fifth in the world championships sprint, beaten by four Swedish women. She was subsequently excluded from the team race.

After the season ended, she put her time to good use.

“I’ve become a lot stronger in the strength room, better technically, and hopefully better ability as well,” says Skistad.

There was a buzz in the press box after she cruised to victory in Beitostolen on Friday. The 24-year-old walked right past reporters and disappeared. Was she going to leave without saying a word? But after a long time she returned, took the stage at the flower ceremony and gave interviews.

Lage Sofienlund believes getting into coverage in the off-season is all about focus.

-Kristin is probably the person I know best at narrowly focusing her life. She’s good at only caring about things she can accomplish something with, says Suffenlund.

They thrive together in the skiing environment of Coonrod, which lies outside Drammen and has a population of just over 10,000. They make a lot of noise last season, when World Cup victories poured in. There were five in total after the new year. They didn’t want the media circus.

-Christine is a competitive machine. She lives to compete and get better, and everything else is fairly unimportant. “After that, it was nice to go back to the cave and have a break from work,” Suffenlund says.

The 24-year-old turned down a place in the national team after the mock season. You will train in a club environment with a club coach. They did not make any changes to training after last season. They run a blueprint for the recipe for success.

– We talked about it after the season, and we think we found the melody, and now we will play it better this year, and make the songs sound more amazing. There are no modifications, we will just make everything better, says Suffenlund.

Next weekend is the start of the World Cup in Ruka, Finland. Then the hungry Swedish runners were ready for revenge after being beaten sprint after race last season.

“Maybe I’ll have to step it up next weekend,” says Skistad.

But first she will walk 10 kilometers in Beitostolen on Saturday.

-We are training in a way that makes her faster in all aspects as well, but she still has a way to go to get there. Suffenlund says Kristin is a good Norwegian distance runner and a world-class runner.