Kasper Laumann Hartlev : Powerman Greece – looking forward to a great event!

Kasper Laumann Hartlev from Denmark is another very fast European competitor, who will be in Loutraki at 24^th of March for the Powerman Greece 2019. Kasper is one of the fastest European athletes being on top-15 of the world and European long- distance duathlon Championships for the last years. Take a look to what he told us about his participation at Powerman Greece 2019:

1. How did you start multisports and in which age?

I played football (soccer) on a competitive level until the age of 20. After several injuries, I lost the motivation so in 2012 I changed sport to running where I knew I had talent. Within short time, I went from a 85kg football player to a 68-70 kg runner.
In 2014, I studied in Austin, Texas, and competed for their triathlon team. My first race ever was “Austin 70.3” (half IM) and I actually ended up qualifying for the World Championships in 2015 in Zell-am-See, Austria – I was hooked! However, in Zell-am-See I also realized that swimming is just not my thing: I do not enjoy it and I am not super talented. Since January 2016, I have raced in duathlon as elite and so far competed to the World or European Championships 5 times.

• Have you ever visited Greece?

I went to the city of Volos several times when playing football and have really good memories from those times. We were always threated extremely well. Further I have visited some of the Greek Islands for vacations: Crete, Corfu, Rhodos… overall I have the experience that the Greeks are wonderful hosts!

• Which is your favorite duathlon race so far (because we hope from now on to be POWERMAN Greece)?

I am really looking forward to Powerman Greece and I would not be surprised if it becomes a favorite race.
It is a bit tricky to mention only one race, but Powerman Spain at Mallorca has always been something special for me. I have been there to all four editions and I love the atmosphere at Ferrer Hotels organizing the event.
I also really enjoyed Powerman Tramelan in 2018 and will come back again this year. They offer a super tough course and have a great organization with wonderful people… and of course Powerman Zofingen is something really special, no words needed about that J

• How many hours do you train per week and how often do you do bricks?

It varies a lot. I have a quite challenging full time job, which especially in 2018 made it difficult with proper training. However, I have much more flexibility in 2019 and have decided to focus more on the sport – so I have actually quit my job from June 2019! In September I will begin studies in Barcelona. I expect the combination of being a student + the Spanish weather to help me a bit towards my dreams and ambitions.

I typically train 13 times a week, so that being more or less early every morning and then in the afternoon again. However, primarily short trainings of around 60 min on average… living in a rather cold country as Denmark, the hometrainer is an important friend.
Running is definitely my strength, but I actually do not run much. Maybe 40-50 km per week on average and almost never intervals. Instead I do a lot of “fartlek” and use the cross trainer (elliptical) a lot – this way I am always ready to the hard workouts when needed… when I only ran I had +100km every week (+ alternative training) which did not work for me; I was simply too tired to train well!

I do not have a fixed schedule around brick trainings and to be honest I almost never do it – but I will definitely recommend it, if you have the time for it! J

• How is your racing season going so far?

I had 2 weeks with a flu in January/February which did set me back a bit. However, I feel good and had a good race to Powerman Spain a few weeks ago where I ended up 6^th only 8 seconds from the 5^th position. Denis Sketako took 5^th position – so Denis: Powerman Greece will be a re-match!
After Greece my target will be Hamburg Marathon 28/4 where I hope to run 2:23. Personal best is 2:24:47 from Copenhagen Marathon 2018 the day after a 100km bike ride and 7 days after the duathlon European Championships – so I HAVE to beat that time, and I therefore promise fast legs in Greece 😉

If interested in following me, it can be done through facebook (https://www.facebook.com/KasperLaumannHartlev/) or Instagram (“kasperlaumannhartlev”).

See you soon Powerman Greece – looking forward to a great event! J