Lisa Norden

Recent Lisa Norden Videos:

Grown up in a smaller Swedish town I was the typical horse girl who was good at sport. I rode my bike everywhere (most times quicker than the bus) and learnt about hard work and responsibility in the stable. I wanted to go places with my competing but with limited finances horseriding proved to be a difficult venue.

In the summer of 2000 I rode my bike to Italy together with my mum. The day she turned 40 we put our feet in the Mediterranean having been on the bike for 19 days, most of these in a heavy rain... I had an old steel bike 5 sizes to big, gears down on the frame and bags attached both front and back. It did the work, but I can't say I was sold on the sport.

The turnaround was a few weeks after the return to Sweden when I signed up for a local triathlon event in my hometown. I had to breastswim all the 400m in the pool and was 2nd last out of the water... With a solid bike base in my legs I managed to overtake a whole bunch of people and win my age group.

Another year down the road my horse got injured and I made the decision to learn to swim and put some more time into my own training. This paid off and in 2002 I won the Swedish Junior Champs, the Nordic Junior Champs and qualified for Europeans. FUN! Finally I found a sport where you get rewarded for your training and commitment , not by the size of your familys wallet. ]

I still have all my family and friends back in Sweden. The horses are swoped for dogs but my mum is still active and have done three IM's since the cycling trip to Italy.

I'm currently based in Australia training with Darren Smith, my coach since 2007. I'm living the dream, riding my bike and training hard day after day. My ultimate goal is to found out how good I can be and how fast I can get.

The challenge will be to time this with the day if the triathlon event in London 2012...

Victory in Hamburg!

July 19, 2010

It has been a season of niggles and struggle. Not enough training. Interruptions.

I almost felt like writing it all off completely for a while.

Lucky I didn't!

Except that I got bashed around quite badly in the swim the race played out in my favor yesterday.

The bike was solid and the pace high all 8 laps through the streets of Hamburg. There are not many races where the girls are strung out on one line hanging... But hamburg is a course that easily makes people suffer. Cobbles, technical corners and plenty of drags. It's GREAT!

I came off in a good position but then struggles with my shoes some seconds too long. I found myself running out mid pack instead of near the front. "jeeze, I gonna get in so much trouble from coach darren now"... Knowing I could blow myself away with overdoing the chasing I tried to stay patient reeling them back in. By half way trough lap 1 I was there, on the heels of Emma Moffat. The very likely pace setter of the race.

And that was exactly what she did.

She stayed on the front while girl after girl dropped off the pack. Maybe not so many like I would have wished for, out on the last lap we were still a group of seven running together. Everything to make the race more interesting for the spectators eh...

I was waiting for someone to make the final move. And I was hoping my legs would be able to respond. It would be terrible if I could feel that good for 9,5k but then miss the podium in the final hundred meters..!

By the end it was Moffat who increased the pace. I went with her and we opened up a gap backwards. But it wasn't about the other girls anymore. It was all about getting to that banner under the finish shute as fast as possible. The crowd was going mental and my will was making my legs and arms move quicker. I didn't have much coordination left, I barely couldn't feel my limbs. I just tried to get them move over a little bit faster.

I won a sprint finish!

I beat Moffat for the first time ever.

I won my first World Cup Series race for 2010.

Do I need to say I am absolutely delighted?!

The beer showering on the podium was quite a party and I don't think I have ever smelled that bad before.

For you information beer gets extremely sticky when it dries.

Running shoes soaked in beer also smells extremely bad.

But at lest the bike was clean and shiny when I got it back after the drug test. I wish Specialized would clean me up and put me back in representable condition as quick as they do with my S-Works amira...

Stats for Lisa Norden are coming soon.
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