Huge excitement in Norway: Former cross-country skiing world champion Helene Marie Fossesholm unexpectedly announced her retirement from active sport on Tuesday – at the age of 24. The reactions are clear.
The Norwegian cross-country skiing team is losing one of its most promising talents: As 24-year-old Helene Marie Fossesholm announced on social media on Tuesday, she will end her career with immediate effect. The 2021 relay world champion cited motivation problems as the reason.
“I have sad news to announce. I have decided to resign,” Fossesholm wrote. “In the last few months my motivation has gone up and down, unfortunately I felt the latter most often,” continued the 24-year-old.
“I shed a few tears”
Her hope was that this feeling was only temporary and that her motivation would return at some point. But that wasn’t the case. “I tried to focus on the positive, which is why I always spoke as if my motivation was at its peak.” Ultimately, the time she took didn’t help.
Fossesholm’s resignation hit like a proverbial bombshell, especially in Norway. The broadcaster “NRK”, for example, wrote about “shocking news”. Five-time world champion Heidi Weng said: “I shed a few tears. She has to make this decision for herself. If it’s right for her, I support her.”
Norway’s national coach Sjur Ole Svarstad was also amazed and explained: “I have goosebumps. It was surprising and very unexpected for me. She sent me a text message that I was quite unprepared for. I couldn’t have imagined that a few months ago when we were together at the Blinkfestival and Toppidrettsveka.”
According to his own statement, Fossesholm will now take a new path and begin studying medicine. “It will be a different life, but one that I’m looking forward to,” said the young cross-country skiing retiree.