What's your background?  

My name is Dan-Sigurd Ludvigsen and I am 41 years old. I grew up in Lyngen, but now I live in Tromsø with my wife and three kids. My profession is an elevator technician for a company called Orona. I was quite active with skiing and athletics in my first years at elementary school. When I was 9, I got diagnosed with childhood arthritis. This is a disease that leads to several swollen joints, and I was forced to stop sporting activities.

When I was young, the saying was to take it easy while having pain and inflammations. As I got older I used this as an excuse to live more unhealthy that I should. I did some biking, but always said my legs could not handle running. Later studies has shown that high intensity training significantly reduce disease activity in arthritis.

In 2015 my health got worse, with inflammation in my lower back. I needed help for daily chores and I couldn’t work for months. Luckily a new type of medication helped me get better. I wanted a training goal to get fit and signed up for the olympic+ triathlon in 2016. This race was my introduction to triathlon and also became the start of a new epoke in my life.

I have done several half an full distance triathlons since then and this year I finished Norseman. I still need my medicine to function properly, and don’t know how long it will last. Tomorrow is unknown, so might as well enjoy today.

Have you done any races by The Arctic Triple before? 

Did my first triathlon, the Olympic+ in 2016 and I was hooked. Beautiful surroundings, but my biggest take was the good mood around this competition. The Arctic triple crew and the triathlon community was very including. It was all about besting yourself and the last athletes to cross the finish line got more applause than the first. Remember watching Allan Hovda win the extreme distance that year and thought; how is it possible to cover that distance. 4 years later I finished the extreme version myself. Done the triathlon 5 times in total, but 2026 will be the first time I do the skimo and ultra-trail.

Why did you choose this challenge for 2026?

What better way to celebrate 10 years in the sport, than to return to where it started.

After all these years with triathlon, I feel a bit confident on the startline knowing what lays ahead. I miss the feeling I had in 2016, scared of the unknown. This challenge scares me, and that feeling makes it easier to do the work throughout the winter. Really looking forward to train and race new disciplines. I like the longer challenges, where it is more about the experience and fighting myself, rather than the pressure of finishing time and position. And if I can’t finish them all in 2026, I’ll just loop it until I can. It will not be a failure, but part of the road to success.

What is your strongest and weakest disciplines? 

Biking is probably mye strongest disiplin in triathlon. Running very long distances may be my weakest, as I’ve never ran longer than 55km. I try to convince myself that a strong mindset will compensate. We will know the answer in week 22.

What are your expectations for the races?

A rollercoaster of joy, pain, gratitude and pride. Running for more than one day will be my biggest test so far and I’m looking forward to see how I can kope with that. A friend from my club has told me about running with imaginary rabbits. Let’s see if the 100 mile ultra-trail can bring me to that hallucinating stage. 

Looking forward to meet more like-minded athletes in the tracks and hopefully many of them are representing Tromsø Triathlonklubb. I’ve gained a lot of new friendships through the club and our trips to Svolvær in week 33 is often the season highlight.

How do you plan to prepare for the gold triple?

Have to keep doing the work every day. Believe in continuity, rather then extreme workouts. With under 10 rando trips in my belt, I need to swap my bike sessions with skiing towards week 11. Also need to increase my running mileage, 100 miles is scary long. The most important is still my wife and kids. The training plan must be sustainable. It’s a team effort and I need «Team Ludvigsen» sheering along, to be able to finish this challenge. 

Do you have any specific goals other than finishing?

My sporting goal is to survive the skimo and ultra-trail. If my body is still working in week 33, it would be cool to fight for a podium in the triathlon. My main goal is to break barriers and have amazing experiences along the way. I have been privileged to have a big entourage of family and friends following me to competitions. These trips is a good opportunity to have some quality time with them. Shared pain is half the pain and shared joy is double joy.

Don’t want sympathy og applause for my achievements with a diagnosis. I feel lucky that my body now lets me do these things and I know training is one of the main reasons for that. I hope my story can be an inspiration for others with similar problems. My experience with pushing the limits, is that the body adapts. Getting out of the comfort zone is very healthy. That’s how we grow, both physically and mentally. Most importantly, don’t let a diagnosis or other peoples saying set your limits. Like Joe Friel said; «The bigger limiter is not the body, it’s the mind»

We're cheering for you, Dan Sigurd! Good luck on your journey towards the GOLD triple!!