Vetle Sjåstad Christiansen (31) went through a breakup with her boyfriend, got back together with her boyfriend and moved after her boyfriend. The result: Success.
Photo: Private
We report from Nove Mesto, Czech Republic on Saturday 17 February at 14:45
The short version
- Vetle Sjåstad Christiansen (31) takes part in the Biathlon World Cup. He walks the anchor leg during the men’s relay on Saturday at 16.30
- To succeed, he has moved to Trondheim to be closer to his girlfriend Ingvild and uses a psychologist through Olympiatoppen.
- Christiansen believes that private life affects performance in competitions and highlights the importance of conversations with the psychologist.
- He has already won two World Cup victories this season.
Sea view
- On Saturday, Vetle Sjåstad Christiansen will relay for Norway in the WC. The race is broadcast at 16.30 on TV 2 and can be followed in VG Live.
– Stocks, sports and entertaining your girlfriend. Those are the three most important things in life, apart from biathlon, says Sjåstad Christiansen with a grin.
On his athlete profile at the IBU, he lists precisely these three things as his interests.
But it has been quite a journey for Sjåstad Christiansen and his girlfriend Ingvild, as he says himself.
They broke up after last season, but got back together over the summer. The distance between them meant that it was enough.
– It was a bit much to deal with. The emotions said stop. Then she came back from an exchange in the USA, but it wasn’t meant for us to get back together. I think we were both happy that we were done with distance relationships, says Christiansen.
He has two individual bronze medals in the WC, and was clearly moved by the second of them:
The girlfriend was in place during Wednesday’s normal distance and was interviewed on TV 2. This summer they found small pretexts to meet each other.
– Then the feelings blossomed again. She was going to pick up some things that were left in the apartment – the classic, that. Then we met by chance at a race in Lofoten, recalls the 31-year-old.
Eventually they decided: They tried again, and Christiansen got to make some choices that also benefited her. So he rented a flat in Trondheim for three months, where she studies.
– It was great living with her, she moved out of the collective. In a way, I got a new environment, new people in training and a new door to training, says Sjåstad Christiansen.
And it has gone well, despite a less-than-optimal start to training for the season. After some withdrawal drama at the start of the year, the Geilo runner has hit back thoroughly with two victories in the World Cup.
After the first of them, he drew out great words:
In addition to moving north for a short period, he has gone to a psychologist through Olympiatoppen, an elite sports center in Oslo, which works to make the best possible arrangements for the Norwegian athletes to perform in competition.
– Top sports life is tough mentally. Regardless of how good you are, you are always being hunted: Whether by competitors, teammates or younger runners. It’s a bit “ugly on the back” 365 days a year, he says.
He says you can become blind to optimizing everything all the time, that it can be for square.
– Then it’s about stepping outside the box and doing something for others, too.
But is it a researcher he can become after his career?