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Andy Newell firing up the engine for the start of the World Cup season
Published: Tue Oct 24, 2006 12:00 AM MDT With the start of the World Cup season just 4 days away, Andy Newell is spending a week at the new Torsby Ski Tunnel in Sweden preparing for the sprint races in Dusseldorf, Germany. This will be the fourth year in which the World Cup season begins in Dusseldorf, but it will be the first time that Andy has competed in the World Cup opener. We were able to catch up with Andy and ask him some questions about his training and his plans for the season.  Newell cranks it up at the 100 meter world record attempt in West Yellowstone, 2005. Andy, it sounds like you had an outstanding summer of training. Was your training different from last year and if so, what were the changes that you made in your training? This years training was very similar to that of last year but just trying to step everything up a notch. I jumped up quite a bit in hours, planning on somewhere around 750, so I think a lot of that volume will start to help me maintain my form throughout the rounds. I’ve also continued with a very aggressive strength program and tried to put on about 3kg of muscle early on in the summer which I think has increased my power in double pole and skating. Right now, you are skiing in the new ski tunnel in Torsby, Sweden. What is it like skiing in the tunnel? The tunnel is sweet. It’s a lot colder than I though it was going to be in there. It’s like full on winter. The loop doesn’t take very long but there is some terrain to do intervals on and make things exciting. Its was nuts, there were 500 people in there yesterday so its good practice for passing people too. This is the first time that you have traveled to Europe to compete in the early World Cups. What kind of approach are you taking in regards to these early competitions? I’m not putting too much emphasis on Dusseldorf, just because it’s so early in the year. I’ve never even stepped on snow this early let alone race. But at the same time I think Dusseldorf is a great course for me because of the high speed and corners so I am looking for a decent result. For the rest of the early world cups we’ll be firing on all cylinders but also trying maintain and even building on our training in order to be feeling our best by World Championships. With the Tour De Ski planned for early January and no specialized World Cup sprint races scheduled, does this mean that you will be racing at US Nationals this year? Yeah. I’ll be back in the US for Christmas this year which is nice, and I’ll also get a chance to race US nationals. Are you looking forward to this? Yes I am… I think it’s a bummer how some of the national team guys have to miss US nationals sometimes but it’s just kind of the way it goes. Traveling so far for the World Cups is just one of those things that Americans have to deal with… but we’re a lot faster than all the Europeans so it kind of evens out… ha.ha.. How excited are you to be skiing on the new Carbonlite this year? The new skis are sick.. I’ve tested some of the new Carbons in the tunnel and they’re running great compared to even my fastest skis of last year. It’s going to be a fun season! Thanks Andy, good luck this weekend. Andy Newell a member of the US X-C team and a Fischer Select athlete. Look for more interviews with Andy throughout the year.
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