"Kristoffer Dreams of New Success" article (Dec. 15, 2010)

Härryda-Posten.se published a a short interview with Koffe earlier today (though the photo they chose isn't very flattering ):

http://www.harrydaposten.se/nyhet_visa.asp?id=721&sidnamn=Sport

Google Translate did a weird job translating the text into English, so although I understand the main points of the article, the finer details elude me because some of the translated sentences don't make much sense. (For example, "som att sätta de hoppen som är med i programmet" becomes "such as getting the shop which is included in the program". )

I'm not Swedish but I have studied Swedish at school so I tried to my best in translating the article (with the much needed help from my e-dictionary). There might be some mistakes, but it should be atleast quite close to the truth. ;D

 
Kristoffer dreams of a new success.

The dream to succeed in surpassing himself gives Kristoffer Berntsson the motivation to continue to train. The condition is ”under way” and this weekend it's time for the Swedish Championships.

- It's gonna be nice to travel to Malmö and compete. ???, says Kristoffer.
The skater has a long row of Swedish Champ. Titles and is a reigning Swedish champion. When we see him (the newspaper), he has just come home from a week-long trainingcamp in Austria, tired after the trip but satisfied that the condition/shape feels better and better.
After the last season Kristoffer took a necessary break and thought about the future. The break meant that he started the preparation for the season later than usual.

-I ??? in the middle of July instead of in the middle of May. Everything is 2 months late but I was forced to do this break for the sake of my mental health. I did a lot of physical (?) training so I'm not in a bad physical shape but one must simply repeat the programmes again and again in order them to became automatic.

Now he thinks that all the pieces are coming together.
-I believe it can happen whenever. In the last second before Swedish Champs, he smiles.
He has alreay had time to compete in 4 international competitions during the autumn. He is the most satisfied with the second place in Finland. After that there has been an 11th place in Canada and two 3rd places Austria and in Italy.

-The first competition was good. After that you wish that it would start going better and better but instead it went slightly worse. In Austria and in Italy I had a chance to win.

In Austria he got beaten by Swedish rival Alexander Majorov.
-He skated really good and at the same time I wasn't at my best. He has had a good season.

He has not faced yeat his last year's main rival in the Swedish Championships, Adrian Schultheiss.
-We haven't been in the same competitions but he has also done good skatings.

Who is the favourite to win the Swedish title this year... Kristoffer does't want to say anything on that matter.
- Other can do that (=speculate).
Kristoffer has a peaceful SP to a piano music which handles a topic of fighting with oneself and a tougher/(cooler) LP to Michael Jackson's music.
-They are very different when it comes to styles. I think it's nice to have a little variation in the practise.

The degree of difficulty is the same than before.
- I have had the same degree of difficulty that the Olympic champion for many years. I do two triple axels. It's most about pulling them off, having a good fluency in the programme, and neatening the beginnings and the landings of the jumps. And then there is that quadruple.

There isn't going to be any quadruple this year either, is there?
- No, I still haven't cleared it yet. You can win the Olympics without the quadruple so you gotta be sure about it before you dare to take that risk. I have it in my trainig but it's matter of prioritization and there are often other things that seem more important, like the jumps that are included in the programme, says Kristoffer.

You had some falls last season, do you focus more to the jumps this year?
-It's really about the jumps, without them you don't go anywhere but the important thing is to master the whole programme. In the practice everyone clears the jumps, but it's about being certain that you can clear them in every situation, however, whenever, even when the lactic acids kick in.

After the Swedish Championships becomes European Championships in the of January in Switzerland World Championships in Japan in March. It was in Japan, World Championships 2007, when Kristoffer did his best performance so far. He was 9th.

- I have dreams that give me inspiration and some motivation to train. What you want everytime is to surpass yourself, to be better and develop. To challenge yourself is the foundation in everything, that's why you do it (?). When it's the time to compete, you gotta push aside all the dreams and just live in the present. You have to focus on what you are going to do here and now, says Kristoffer.

Thank you so much for your help, vaapukka! Your Swedish is a lot better than Google Translate's!