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Sophia Laukli likes to keep busy. The 23 year old Maine native is coming off her best season as a professional skier. After a grueling four month World Cup season which included a trip to North America, and back to Europe, she still hadn’t had enough skiing. A post World Cup 30-kilometer Freestyle race as part of the Norwegian National Championships was just too tempting a target to pass up. For Laukli, the longer the race, the better; and Freestyle better than Classic. So, a 30-kilometer Freestyle would be the bespoke frosting on her World Cup cake.
So, on March 23rd Laukli lined up with the best skiers that Norway had to offer and showed them why when it comes to distance Freestyle, she’s always a serious threat. Laukli finished second, ahead of Norwegian stalwarts Astride Oeyre Slind, Heidi Weng, and Margrethe Bergane. The only woman to beat her: Therese Johaug. Yes, she’s back. Unfortunately for the rest of the field, she doesn’t appear to have lost a step. Johaug beat the best Norway could throw at her by almost three minutes. But Laukli was philosophical about finishing second and recognized the context of the race. “That race was definitely for fun,” she said. “And it was an Individual 30-k skate race; I don’t think there’s any race that is better for me than that. I was very excited with my results. Everyone was kind of expecting it (Johaug’s performance). It’s highly likely that she’ll be coming back, so I guess we’re just going to go back to this life (Johaug winning races by minutes). But I had to think about it a minute, because the last time I was racing her, I would have been 10 minutes back. It sucks to be three minutes back, but I guess I’ll take what I can get. We want to race the best, but it’s tough to go back to a ski circuit where one person is winning everything. I’m under the impression that the motivation for her comeback is the World Championships being in Trondheim, Norway.” But Johaug won’t have an open highway to World Cup distance gold. Laukli is also gunning for the World Championships next season where the distance race will be an Individual Start 50-kilometer Freestyle race on the last day of competition. A race tailor-made for her. “We’ll see if anyone can take her (Johaug) down. I’m excited for that race, for sure.”
It’s a long way off and a lot can happen between now and then, but a showdown between an American upstart and an imposing veteran who dominated distance racing unlike anyone ever has is an enticing teaser.
After her second place finish, Laukli’s competition season wasn’t over. Shortly after the Norwegian Championships, she packed her bags and began work—only three days later—at her second job that pays most of the bills: being a professional trail runner.
Last year, Laukli dominated the professional worldwide trail running circuit, handily winning the Golden Trail Race series. Laukli shocked the running world by using her world class endurance talent and innate running ability to pummel the best trail runners in the world. At the end of the season, she was crowned the new queen of dirt racing when she won the Overall title.
Running Stumbles—Change in Plans
The transition to running did not go smoothly for her this year, and Laukli may have to miss the two races she had planned on doing in Asia this month. Her original schedule had her racing in Japan April 20th, and China on April 27th. But things are not likely to go as planned. “I finished the last ski race (the Norwegian national championships), and three days later did a running camp with no preparation: not my greatest decision. I tried to implement more running during the whole ski season so (transitioning to running) wouldn’t be such a shock. I now realize that running on treadmills and roads doesn’t prepare me well for trail running. I have some tendonitis issues in my knee. It’s a lot of pain running. So doing a race is the last thing I need to do. The race is three days out (as of this writing on April 17th ), and I can’t really walk correctly. Last year I managed it better because I wasn’t racing until June, but this year I wanted to do the two races in Asia. I might have had a little too much belief in myself. In order for this not to be a real injury I might need to skip these two races.” Laukli acknowledged that she had the same issue last year following a running camp after the ski season, but she had time to rest last year and everything recovered fine. This year the schedule she had set didn’t afford that opportunity.
Her overuse injury has forced her to tweak her schedule. “Now the next race for me is the end of May, Zegama-Aizkorri, in Spain (42-kilometers with over 2,700 meters elevation gain). So, I’ll go home after this, take 5-10 days of other training. Then in June there’s Marathan Du Mont Blanc (which Laukli won last year). Then I’ll do Sierre-Zinal (which Laukli also won last year). The tradeoff for not doing these races in Asia is that I’d have to go back to the U.S. (in the fall) and do those two races (Headlands 27K and Mammoth 26K), which I was hoping to not have to, because it’s nice to not have to race in the fall.
Still a Skier Who Runs
Despite this setback, Laukli is undaunted about continuing as a two sport professional athlete. “So far all it means is that I need to trial and error a bit more in how I need to prepare,” she said. “So, for next year I know what I need to focus on, and I’ve decided that I’m not going to try and race in April. I don’t see being a two sport athlete changing.”
But now that Laukli is the defending champion of the Golden Trail series, there’s a new challenge waiting for her. Last year she was a bit of an unknown—or at least a wildcard—but this year she’s the defending champion with a bullseye on her back. “I’m definitely a little bit more stressed. I definitely like being a nobody and having no pressure. In the running world in particular they are very vocal about ‘oh, you’re supposed to win.’ That’s how it works when you start to do well in this sport. But it’s a good problem to have.”
Despite being a professional two sport athlete, she still sees herself as primarily a skier. “Skiing is still the priority. It’s sometimes hard—I’m much more successful at running, maybe I should commit to that? But the way I’ve combined the two now, is honestly making me more successful in both, so I don’t see a motivation to change. In skiing, there’s a lot more ambition there (for her). I’ve been skiing forever, and constantly improving on the World Cup. I find more reward in that than in my running, even though I’m more successful on paper in running. But financially, it’s running that pays the bills. From a financial point, running is providing much more and, in a sense, it’s financing skiing. But that was an after-the-fact thing. I didn’t know running had all this money. It means I can now fully commit to being an athlete because running can now support my skiing. My ski training is supporting my running from the physical standpoint.”
Please return to FasterSkier for Part II of our conversation with Sophia Laukli.
