Christian is a full time biathlon athlete born and raised in Norway. He started his biathlon career when he was twelve years old and at the age of sixteen he moved to Geilo to study at the “Norwegian top athlete school” where his career really started to take form. During the first year in Geilo he gained one gold and two silver medals in the Norwegian Junior Championships and finished second in the overall Norwegian Cup.
In Geilo, Christian and a couple of other biathletes from Norway wanted to do something new and decided to move to Östersund in Sweden and started a new biathlon team named “Team Östersund”. This has now extended over time to become “Herbalife 24 Biathlon Team” which is, as mentioned above, the first biathlon team that has athletes from both Norway and Sweden and is one of the best teams in Scandinavia with a numerous top results in National Cup, Europe Cup, and the World Cup.
Although biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting, their training season starts in the beginning of May which means that the majority of their training is done during the summer. As Christian knew that the muscles you use when you are paddling are much the same as when you go cross country skiing, kayaking for training is a great idea. So he met up with SeaBird and is now an owner of SeaBird’s Wave 6.1 surf-ski which he uses for his biathlon training. Christian’s comments about the choice of kayak:
“I have been paddling many times before, and I wanted something that was light, fast, and fun. This turned out to be the perfect choice for me since I wanted it to be a “training machine” that was quick and easy to use and stable enough that I didn’t have to think about holding my balance all the time, but at the same time it is unstable enough that you have to use you whole body to get the most of it in high speeds. I have now had the 6.1 surf-ski the whole summer and I have done all from the short 20 minute trips in the rivers nearby my home to the full-on 4 hour trips in the ocean down the Norwegian coastline with no problems. And with this I have improved both my upper body and core strength to a new level. And I will definitely keep using the surf-ski in my summer training next year”.
Christian has one big goal and that is to compete in the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games which he is currently training for and SeaBird wishes him the best of luck!
Christian’s personal best results so far:
- In Norway: Silver medal in the Norwegian Championships and also a gold medal in the Norwegian Championships Relay.
- In Sweden: Two individual gold medals in the Swedish Championships, one gold medal in the Swedish Championships Relay, finishing as first place in the overall Swedish Cup.
To read more about the Herbalife 24 Biathlon Team visit