Biathlonworld: Your team started camps a bit later, do you hope that will keep them fresher during the season?

Sverre Olsbu Roeiseland: That is our hope. We wanted to give the athletes a little bit more time in the spring to get into training. They have their local coaches to work with them. My goal is to not bring out too much too early.

BW: Is it a scary thought that you might go to the Olympic Winter Games in two years with a pretty inexperienced team?

SR: When you do not have so much experience, then everything is new. Younger athletes will look at it differently and not be serious. It is always good to have a mix between younger and older athletes. I think the mix is really good. It will also be my first Olympics, but Christian (Mehringer) has been there before, so he has some experience. I have experience in big events from my time in Norway. It is important to make the Olympics like any other competition even though it is the biggest goal next season. You need a good plan to be in the best shape for the Olympics.

BW: Are you happy with how far the team has progressed since you took this coaching position?

SR: From my side, it is really interesting to see a new system, new athletes and how they did it in the past. There are a lot of good things and ideas in the German system, but it is up to me to bring in some new ideas and input. Since I started, I think we almost have a totally new have a totally new team, since Hinz, Herrmann-Wick, and Hildebrand retired. You only have Voigt and Preuss and some younger ones like Selina Grotian and Johanna Puff. That is part of the game. Some years you have the same team and sometimes the new generation is coming. I think it is really good that we now have a really strong B team; we need those younger girls for the future. We brought in Julia Tannheimer and Johanna for experience and they did very well. That is good for our future; they can perform well and still have fun with biathlon.

BW: Do you think this group will mature a lot in the next 18 months (before the OWG)?

SR: I hope…that is the goal, of course. We have work to do and need every day of training to make bigger progress, especially in the season. I am not a fan of being in top shape for the first race, so we can develop week by week and the younger athletes can bring good performances in February and March, not only November.