Red Bull’s Director of Performance Gets Back To His  Ski Racing Roots

Photo: US Ski & Snowboard

When Per Lundstam came back to US Ski and Snowboard as Director of Alpine Sports Science last fall, it was more of a homecoming than a job change. Lundstam worked as the alpine team’s head strength coach from 1994-2010, and returned to the organization after an 11-year stint as Director of Performance with Red Bull in Santa Monica, CA. 

In many ways, working at Red Bull was a dream job for Lundstam, but despite the excitement and challenge of working with 200 high-profile athletes spanning 75 sports, he never lost his passion for alpine ski racing and felt a pull back to the team. As Lundstam came to realize, “That’s where my purpose is and where I belong and I can have an impact.” 

He never really left Park City, instead commuting to LA and the “hole in the wall” residence he maintained there, while he and his wife—who also worked for USSS when they met— raised their son in Park City. 

A few years ago, he started talking about a return with then Alpine Director Jesse Hunt, and when the opportunity arose to do that last fall, he jumped at it. “I felt like it was my time to put my energy back into it.” This time around he hopes to realize the vision of connecting the sport from elite to grass roots and enlisting American ski racers as a family, united in purpose to be the best. 

It all started with ski racing

Lundstam grew up in Sweden as a ski racer, with the dream of racing in the World Cup. At the time, in the late 80s, the Swedish team was very competitive, and Lundstam’s personality seemed more suited to helping his competitors rather than crushing them. His mother, in fact, saw his coaching talent before he did, but as his competitors leaned on him more and more for training guidance, Lundstam also saw the writing on the wall. He quit racing at age 24 and quickly transitioned into a position as conditioning coach for the Swedish national team, a position he held from 1990-94. From there, Lundstam moved across the pond to start working with the US Ski Team in 1994. 

What followed was a time of unparalleled success on the US Ski Team, from a range of athletes across both genders and all disciplines. This included the rise of superstars like Bode Miller, Lindsey Vonn, Julia Mancuso, Ted Ligety and Daron Rahlves, as well as an army of athletes with medals and World Cup success, all supported by a cohesive staff. The success fed on itself. “We had incredible athletes that showed everybody the way and broke down all those paradigms that we were behind the Europeans,” says Lundstam. “You get this momentum and then the biggest piece of all is belief.” 

Finding and refinding the magic

Years later, the venerated Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) brought together key USSS staff from that era to unpack and discuss the energy, cohesion and clarity in programming behind their remarkable accomplishments. “It came down to energy and team,” says Lundstam. “The athletes felt like they were a part of a team and something amazing.” 

Lundstam is fascinated by how a group of people get to that place and believes much of it lies in creating a cohesive system where all stakeholders feel valued and invested. That is what he hopes to build on now, not only at the elite level, but throughout the American ski racing community, encompassing clubs, academies, colleges, regions, High Performance Centers (HPCs) and the national team. 

Central to this is a shared understanding of the absolute codependence between the elite system and the development system. Says Lundstam: “Without a healthy development system we are nothing at the elite level; and without us moving forward and breaking down every barrier, [developing athletes] don’t have a path either. We need each other and need to be integrated and understand how we work together at a higher level.” 

Lundstam talks a lot about creating vertical structures that connect the grass roots to the elite, through both content and practices. He uses Skills Quest as an example of a vertical path, a resource that is understood and utilized by athletes, coaches and parents at every level. Another such vertical tool Lundstam is excited about is the new motor-driven SEGR Leg Press that has been in development for 20 years. Similar to a force plate, the press can be used to both test and train eccentric and concentric strength (a key attribute in managing the physiological loads of ski racing), while the data it collects will be used to glean valuable insights that will improve ski specific training and prevent injury for the entire ski racing community. (Look for future articles on how the SEGR press works–why it matters and how it will be distributed and used at HPCs across the country.)

Culture is the bottom line

“Skiing is an individual sport, but when you unpack it and remove the layers, it needs to be a team. That needs to be the culture.” Lundstam’s experience at Red Bull, where he had the opportunity to implement high-level projects to push the boundaries with exceptional athletes, gave him insight on what could be possible when aligning not only a team but an entire sport, for which he sees huge opportunity in the US. “All the learning and expertise we have at this level needs to be connected with the clubs and with the athletes, coaches and parents in our development system. We want to communicate it but also have people be more part of it… to really create a broader pathway and more verticals that people feel engaged with.” In noting the importance of doing something vs merely communicating about it, Lundstam notes that the familiar cliché—culture trumps strategy—holds true. 

The first order of business this spring is gathering national team athletes for a battery of tests and assessments at the COE. One side bonus of the pandemic was realizing that athletes can train wherever is best for them. “We want them to come in for testing and contribute for learning and insights, then move in the way they feel will be most beneficial for them. There are some amazing opportunities and platforms to support them even when they’re not here.” 

Lundstam often hears criticism that the COE is an underutilized or unnecessary resource. He hopes that perception will change by sharing testing information and insights and fostering integration with the ski racing community. “Originally, this was meant to be a breathing hub for performance at all levels.” By sharing testing, establishing concrete pathways and even involving clubs, academies and colleges in the research, the goal is to create more of a national systematic feel than just an elite feel. 

Connecting and uniting a country as geographically large and diverse as the US is a challenge Lundstam is well-prepared to help tackle. He brings personal and professional connections throughout the international ski racing community, and though planted in the West has side roots in the East. His wife hails from Upstate New York and his son, an avid hockey athlete, attends high school in New Hampshire. “I am excited about what we can do as a community and make people feel that they are actually invited to this. If we get some critical mass behind the direction, we can do some incredible things moving forward.”