– He has been swimming and swimming and swimming.

Here’s what Saturday’s classic 15 kilometer race winner, Hans Christer Holund, had to say about his teammate who is ten years his junior on the podium.

Commentator Jann Post exclaimed that there was no way Moseby could be beaten by only Holund and Emil Iversen, and referenced the number of national team runners behind him on the results list. NRK expert Torgeir Bjørn found it sensational. The 22-year-old himself was shocked and called it all unreal.

Failed to pass interval

Because he didn’t have a season run-up.

It went horribly wrong during the Holmenkollen roller ski show before summer vacation. Moseby continued his nose at one of the turns.

His own theory is that he suffered a deformity in his hip as a result of the impact. A month of training with bent hips was enough for him to suffer a fracture due to fatigue in the pelvis. The injury occurred at running intervals in July.

“Yeah, a lot,” Moseby said when asked if it slammed properly on the hip during that training session.

– I couldn’t go after that because it was so sick.

The injury was revealed by MRI images in early August.

– That’s a very hard message to accept. The whole world is collapsing. I struggled to find anything positive, he said, knowing that important training would take place throughout the fall.

Three hour session in chilly Sognsvann

But he has to be positive.

Ski and running rollers are placed on the rack. It was replaced with a bicycle, a peg machine and at least a swimming cap.

He had spent a lot of time in the water. Moseby received technical training from Mette Pettersen Moe, who had won the tough triathlon competition «Norseman». It’s been ten weeks of alternative training. Moseby, for example, has swam ten kilometers in one session of more than three hours. Lap after lap in the water at Sognsvann at Nordmarka in Oslo.

– It was a mental challenge, Moseby admitted about the training session.

– I bought some waterproof headphones. It makes it a little less boring. But I highly doubt that I will do it again.

When asked if third place at Beitostølen on Saturday was against all odds, Moseby replied as follows:

– I think my competitors will say it, but I know for myself how much hard work I have put in and how good I look. I didn’t expect, but hoped for this.

Considered for the opening of the World Cup

Versatile coach Eirik Myhr Nossum was also impressed. It was he who fielded the long-distance team for the opening World Cup in Ruka next weekend. He said that Moseby, along with several others, were now being considered there. Of course, that depends on how it goes in Sunday’s 15km freestyle.

And if he goes to the World Cup, it is permissible to dream of the Olympics.

– I think everyone who goes here in Beitostølen dreams of the Olympics. How realistic that goal is is another matter. But it’s a dream huh.

– Is that realistic for you now?

– After today, maybe, said Moseby and smiled.

PS: From 10:45 a.m. on a Sunday morning, you can on nrk.no or NRK1 watch the women go at 10-kilometer intervals starting the freestyle. The broadcast of the men’s 15 kilometers in the same style began at 12:55 am.