Norway’s men’s skiers have taken the joy out of the track, when Russia has been excluded from the World Cup. Even in the fjords, people are worried about what the international competition season is shaping up to be like.
The opening competition of the 2001-2002 World Cup season in Kuopio on November 24, 2001. The date is etched in the memory of skiing circles, because at that time the Norwegian men’s skiers put on the most superior performance of all time.
Vuonomaa was occupied Anders Auckland winning eight top places in the 15 km race. Swedish Per Elofsson was ninth as the best non-Norwegian.
Although Elofsson won the freestyle skiing competition held the next day, the Norwegian men captured a total of 12 individual competition victories during the season. After the deafening opening, in addition to one quadruple victory, we saw a race in which Norway took five first places, as well as no fewer than four double victories.
In the World Cup, which includes sprints and normal distances, the result was unprecedented. The Norwegian men won no fewer than 60 percent of the season’s individual cup competitions.
Since then, the Norwegian men’s winning percentage has been four times better, last season’s 65 as the icing on the cake.
The measure that better describes the level is the award places. In them, the Norwegian men’s best result is from the 2019–2020 season, when their share of the 90 possible World Cup podiums was 49, i.e. 54.4 percent.
When the International Skiing Federation banned Russia from its competitive activities due to the country’s war in Ukraine, skiing circles feared that the men’s competitions in particular would turn out to be a one-sided show for the Norwegians.
The fear is coming true.
All-time superiority?
Former head coach of the Norwegian national skiing team Tor Arne Hetland estimates that the records will be rattled in the coming season. The assessment is supported by the fact that without the Russians, the records of Hetland’s compatriots in recent years would be even wilder.
Since 2018, the Russians have achieved more than 20 World Cup prize places per season while competing for a full season.
– I wonder if the Norwegian men don’t break records in prize positions. We can only hope that other countries have been successful in their preparations for the season. If they don’t, the men’s season will be boring, Hetland said on Friday after the Norwegians took a quadruple victory in the traditional skiing sprint.
In his career, Hetland achieved an individual Olympic gold and a world championship in sprinting, as well as two other World Championship golds.
Next February, the World Championship medals will be competed for in Planica, Slovenia. If the Russians were removed from the results lists of the previous World Championships in Oberstdorf, the Norwegian men would have taken all 12 individual medals.
With only two races left this season, the Norwegian men have swept the prize table in both races, with four and three wins. Without any surprises, the same pace will continue on Sunday in the 10-kilometer freestyle pursuit that concludes the Ruka triple.
The Kuopio World Cup-like superiority mentioned at the beginning is only possible in competitions held in Norway, where the super power of skiing brings athletes from the national team to the line alongside the national team.
Currently, the most successful national teams are allowed to nominate six skiers for World Cup competitions instead of the previous eight.
The level of the Norwegian national team is an example Harald Östberg Amundsenwho achieved 15 km bronze in the previous World Cup with only three World Cup competitions.
From Ruka, the World Cup moves to Norway, where Lillehammer and Beitostölen organize a total of five competitions. In all of these starts, a national group including a total of twelve Norwegians will be seen at the line.