As a top athlete, the biathlete will be a healthy role model. As a top athlete, he also makes extreme choices. – That top sport is healthy is a truth with modifications, he says. In 2019, the gelding made his most drastic choice so far in his career, when he made changes to his training schedule and diet. For Sjåstad Christiansen, dietary optimization is a hard priority in the same way as saying no to a party, sleeping during the day and taking it all out on interval sessions. One of several hard priorities to squeeze in the last two seconds in search of gold. Where only the perfect race is good enough. Nothing else applies. In 2019, Sjåstad Christiansen was tired of not being the best version of himself. He wanted to return and fight at the top. And after several years of illness, something had to happen. Gullvekta – Then we made quite drastic choices and changed both a lot in terms of exercise, but also a little in our diet. A tailored diet in relation to the training, he explains. This was to be the continuation of “Project perfect” for Sjåstad Christiansen, who has been nurtured all his life to become the world’s best biathlete. The biathlete is tall at 1.93m and has previously told news about how he doubled the number of running hours in the run-up to the Olympic season in order to gain lighter muscle mass. Changes in diet were part of it. At the start, he was on the verge of his comfort weight, when during quiet training periods he ate more protein and less carbohydrates. In heavier training periods, vice versa. It was painful before it eventually became a positive experience. Regular blood tests were also taken all the time. The same with scans of the body. All with close follow-up by confederation teams and the Olympiatoppen. No shortcuts were taken for the top athlete who had the training grounds in hand. – I didn’t want to get thin. I wanted to be the best. He continues: – And in order to be the best, the inside of the body must be taken care of. I can’t get there and weigh 5 kilos less, while the iron stores are in the basement and I have problems with my spinal cord. Then you don’t go fast. – That is perhaps what is important to distinguish between. Wanting to get a different body to look good. Unlike and would perform better with the body you have, says Sjåstad Christiansen, more seriously than usual. Looking at the body as an instrument Jorunn Sundgot Borgen, professor at the Norwegian Institute of Sports Studies (NIH), believes that Sjåstad Christiansen has a central point. This is also where the thinking of boys and girls differs, she points out. – Firstly, boys have the ability to see the body as an instrument to a greater extent. There are much more emotions in girls and women linked to the body, weight and food in general, she says. PRAISES OPENNESS: Jorunn Sundgot-Borgen, professor NIH. Photo: Morten Holm / NTB She also believes that the boys compare themselves to each other to a far lesser extent. – The girls compare themselves to the body of the best. The boys are more able to see that different bodies can perform. Sundgot Borgen has worked for a number of years with eating disorders in sports. She thinks it is important that Sjåstad Christiansen focuses on a taboo subject. – I think it is extremely important that he wants to focus on the way he does. It is well known in sports medicine and performance environments that body composition can be a key variable in terms of performance. She is nevertheless keen to emphasize that dietary optimization is considered one of the major risk factors for developing low energy availability and eating disorders. Therefore, only top athletes over the age of 18, who, if necessary and via professional help, will work on this, she emphasizes. Diet optimization is working purposefully and constructively with diet and routines where the purpose is for the body to perform to the maximum in training and competitions, and to be best stimulated for further development. That explains Therese Fostervold Mathisen, who is associate professor at Østfold University College, department of health, welfare and organisation. This includes, among other things, intake of appropriate amounts of energy, various nutrients, portioning throughout the day, and timing in relation to training and competitions. – For some, such dietary optimization can become so detailed that it becomes rigid and psychologically difficult to deal with in a balanced way, says Mathisen, who, like Sundgot Borgen, emphasizes that it is important that the athlete is guided by professional personnel. Read more about how top athletes work with body composition further down in the article. CHILDREN: Vetle Sjåstad Christiansen has invested in biathlon since he was a child, but he only started weight optimization in adulthood. Photo: Privat A sport in development Traditionally, body composition has not been seen as a performance variable in either biathlon or cross-country skiing. For that reason and because it has been linked to eating disorders, it has not been talked about much either, points out Sundgot Borgen. But as sports have developed over time, there has also been a focus on weight and body composition as a natural performance factor. – There are different requirements and new trail profiles. Then these elements come in, she points out. The tradition of not talking out loud about weight is illogical for Sjåstad Christiansen. He shakes his head. He himself sits vulnerable in a chair and talks about something that may be difficult for others. Not for him. For summer after summer, he has followed the Tour de France on TV. Where the climbers are easier than the sprinters. Yet they compete against each other in the same sport. Something that is a completely natural part of the commentary, he points out. HONEST: Sjåstad Christiansen thinks it is time to talk about weight. He believes it will prevent eating disorders. Photo: Halvor Ekeland / news – The same with jumping. We understand that you have to be light to fly far. He continues: – Perhaps it has not become natural for us to talk about it in our national sports of cross-country skiing and biathlon, which are quite close. But we also have quite steep hills to climb, us too. Historically, we have been bad at seeing that picture. He believes that more transparency about what the best do to cut into small margins, also among active athletes, will help prevent eating disorders in sports. – It’s about starting somewhere, you have to tear off the plaster to talk about it. – I think we owe it to those around us and those who come after us, that they can enter the sport with a more open mind. But you may be afraid that it will cost energy and that it will take focus away from training and competitions. How top athletes work with body composition Deliberately adjusting diet and exercise to achieve a change in body weight and/or body composition can be part of the “finishing” an experienced elite athlete does to bring in the margins that apply in top sport. Normally, body composition and weight will be a parallel and automatic result of purposefully training and eating to perform better in your sport (for example, increasing fitness, increasing speed, increasing strength, better technical elements or game understanding/experience). All the hours of training and specialization (and dietary adjustments) contribute to the body’s composition also changing. If you start as a young or inexperienced practitioner at the other end; trying to change the body before the purely physical and performance-wise development potential has been taken out, one risks preventing optimal sporting development, and even being prevented from succeeding. Depending on whether you have longed to become lighter or to become heavier, such measures can both take the focus away from pure performance development or also prevent the possibility of quality in the training sessions (lack of energy to keep the intensity and concentration up sufficiently, or that a rapidly increasing weight prevents optimal technique development – which in turn can increase the risk of injuries). Young athletes (under the age of 18) and athletes who have not reached elite level should focus primarily on eating and training to improve their performance, and thereby experience that the body also gradually changes and adapts to the hours spent in training. Elite athletes who claim to be at a high level can, under interdisciplinary guidance, with prior good orientation/information about advantages and disadvantages, preferably in consultation with a nutritionist, consider making adjustments to weight and body composition, because such margins can count for an upcoming competition /season. Focus on differences But Sjåstad Christiansen is convinced that weight is also important in biathlon. – To say that weight is irrelevant for top sport is nonsense, he says. In the same way as in cycling, where two different athletes compete against each other in the same sport, you also have different body types in biathlon. Performed in an arena where everyone can perform. Because in the same way that the climbers perform better in the mountain stages of the Tour de France, and the sprinters in the tempo and flat stages, this is something the biathletes also focus on in the face of different trail profiles, weather and conditions. And the fact that different athletes have different approaches to the same goal is something that should be focused more on, believes Sjåstad Christiansen. – We are very open about it within our team that everyone has different DNA and different genes. Our bodies are built differently. Some need to eat more, others need to eat less. Some need to train more cycling, others need to train more running. Because we all have to play the same sport. They are open about their differences. – I feel that you are good at saying what you think and are honest. It is also part of the reason why they succeed, Sjåstad Christiansen believes. – We, concerned about everything, must withstand the light of day. But then I can’t sit here and say that no one goes to bed with a lump in their stomach. I can only say that I don’t think anyone does. – I hope no one does. Shouldn’t show weakness But for some, the lump in the stomach can make itself known. Because when you are part of an extreme performance culture, it can be difficult to show weaknesses, says Sjåstad Christiansen. Every single day, he and the other biathletes work to turn off their emotions. On the shooting range. Where you shouldn’t feel anything. It becomes all the more important to turn the emotions back on. ON THE SHOOTING RANGE: The 30-year-old works to turn off his emotions. Photo: JON OLAV NESVOLD / BILDBYRÅN – Do you think it can be difficult to show weaknesses in top sport, where extremely high demands are placed on you? – Yes, because it is a perfect project. We dream and train for the perfect race. Nothing else is good enough, in a way. – It is guaranteed that it makes it a little more difficult to show weakness. We must be part of an extreme performance culture and we must not show weakness on the shooting range or in sports, but you must remember that when you return to the hotel room, you are allowed to lower your “guard”. – I jogged home from the stadium in Pokljuka myself, and cried the whole way. I feel I’m good at showing weakness. – It is good. – Yes, I’ll take that with me, says Sjåstad Christiansen, and is back to his usual routine.
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Vetle Sjåstad Christiansen tailors his body in search of gold – Sport Langlesing
