Otto Invenius23, is a clear instruction for everyone who feels like life is constantly kicking them in the head.
– As a little boy, I never gave up on my dreams, and I hope that no one else will stop dreaming because of a small setback. I want to show that everything is possible.
Last season, the biathlon talent clearly reached the best World Cup ranking of his career, being 12th. However, as a child, striving for the top of the world seemed like a particularly distant idea amidst the challenges.
Born in 2000, Invenius suffered from childhood rheumatism, which lasted largely until his teenage years. The disease once appeared at the dentist.
Invenius suffered from joint pains, due to which, among other things, he missed athletics and the hardest fighting sports.
– I could only go to training every other time because I had so many infections in my ankles and knees. When you have rheumatism, sports are useless, Invenius remembers the tough times.
Uphill with one hand
According to Invenius, the joints didn’t hurt as much while skiing, which has contributed to the young man becoming a biathlon skier. On the other hand, Invenius sometimes, for example, had such pain in his elbow that he had to roller-ski uphill with one hand.
So the years were definitely not easy for Invenius, who enjoys sports. Invenius has always been determined to win, so skipping training was a downer.
The rheumatism eventually subsided with the help of medication. Training without pain is not a given.
– It was amazing to train for months straight without getting hurt. Even today, every week at some point I wonder if I can implement the training plan.
Norwegianness present
Invenius, who turns 23 today, is Arttu Heikkinen along with hopes for the future of Finnish biathlon. At the 2022 World Youth Championships, he won silver in the sprint race in the under-22 category.
Success has also come from the EC level. He took a new step in his career last season by jumping to the World Cup level. At the end of the season in Oslo, Invenius took consistently good positions, being 12th, 22nd and 27th.
In the best World Cup race of his career so far, in the sprint race in Oslo, Invenius really blew it by shooting zeros and leaving behind Tarjei Bön and Johannes Dale like Norwegian peaks.
Being Norwegian has been a big part of Invenius’ training routine since spring. Has been his personal trainer for half a year Erik Kulstad. The Norwegian is working for the second year as the head coach of the Finnish national biathlon team.
Invenius’ training volumes have grown considerably. During the training season, he trained at his best seven hours a day, five days straight. The workload was balanced by two consecutive rest days.
The program has included a lot of quantitative training. Training sessions have also been severely interrupted.
– First, I did 15 weeks of only aerobic training. After that, I did only anaerobic threshold for ten weeks, says Invenius.
With the methods of the Swedish star
The fuel for the brutal training method has come from a speed skating star who has already finished his career From Nils van der Poel. The Swede, known as an avid athlete, won Olympic gold two years ago in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters.
He has published a documentary about his own training. The training system came to Kulstad’s awareness through an intermediary.
In the spring, the Norwegian coach proposed a hard training format to Invenius, who says that he likes everything “crazy” related to training.
– It’s really nice, but at the same time really brutal. You have to get results when you are ready to do something like this. There were many days when I didn’t want to go for a seven-hour bike ride.
Invenius has wanted to train hard for many years. Now he actually got permission to do it.
– In the past, there have been such retarding coaches. Now that there is an opportunity to do something more drastic, I can’t say that I don’t want this. I wanted to take up the challenge, says Invenius.
Endurance training included, in addition to cycling, roller skiing and running for 6–7 hours a day. Sometimes he could do two or even three different workouts a day.
Invenius admits that he and Kulstad are two “crazy people” together when it comes to training. However, during the holiday of hard training, it was not forgotten that training should not be overdone.
Kulstad is the one who smokes Invenius when necessary.
– If it looked like things were going badly for a longer period of time, the brakes were applied in that situation. Didn’t go overboard. Erik is really smart about the amount of training, so we kept the job in hand all summer, Invenius assures.
Abdominal exercise every morning
Norwegianness can be seen in Invenius’ everyday life, especially every morning. Nowadays, he always starts the day with a 10-15 minute mid-body workout.
The main inspiration came again from the Norwegian Kulstad.
– He had heard that Norwegians might do this every morning before breakfast. I took it without question and have been doing abs every morning all summer and fall. Sometimes it’s not fun, but in the end it’s quite a short time.
Invenius’ preparation for the new season has not gone completely without problems, as he broke his finger during a cross-country ski run in the fall. In the opening races of the season, he has had a child on his finger.
However, Invenius, who is in good physical shape after a hard training season, is not slacking off in his goals for this winter. Last season, the challenge was vertical shooting, but he believes he has gained confidence in that.
– I would like to visit the podium for the first time, Invenius outlines a tough goal.