Einar Hedegart: There is a lot of excitement in Norwegian skiing

Soup Norwegian ski comet Einar Hedegartin it gets even thicker around.

On Tuesday, it was reported that Hedegart plans to continue his career as a cross-country skier because he was not promised a place in the elite group of the Norwegian biathlon team.

“It feels like I broke up with someone, he spilled VG:lle on Tuesday.”

On Wednesday The online newspaper told for a new and surprising twist.

Norwegian biathlon legend Ole Einar Bjørndalen has put his prestige on the line and started pulling strings behind the scenes in order to get Hedegart to change his main sport to biathlon.

According to Nettavisen, Bjørndalen has “made phone calls” to the key personnel of the skein with the goal that the Norwegian Biathlon Union would improve its offer and be able to talk Hedegart back to his former sport.

“I hope they offer slightly better terms that would be attractive to Hedegart,” Bjørndalen said.

Hedegart is a former biathlon star, but he didn’t manage to break through in the World Cup.

He switched to cross-country skiing for the 2025–26 season with sensational results, winning two World Cup events before Christmas. At the Milan–Cortina Olympics, the 24-year-old won two relay golds and an individual bronze.

Hedegart has made it clear on several occasions that he dreams of success specifically in biathlon. Cross-country skiing is only a backup option for him.

Hedegartin the exciting situation has been widely discussed in the Norwegian media for weeks.

The sensational skier announced well in advance that he agrees to return to full-time biathlon only if he gets a place in the elite group of the national team. The Biathlon Union did not agree to the demand, but instead offered him a place in the challenger team.

Secretary General of the Norwegian Biathlon Union Emilie Nordskar stated TV 2:llethat Hedegart did not meet all the athletic requirements of the elite group. According to him, Hedegart would still have access to the coaching resources of the first team.

The Biathlon Union’s policy was met with dismay in Norway. For example, with NRK’s ​​expert Torgeir Bjørnilla didn’t go to distribution, why didn’t the association come forward and apply its selection criteria to get Hedegart allowed into the elite team.

“Hedegart would only have the sky as the limit in biathlon. He showed it last at the Norwegian championships, where he won silver in the sprint race without almost any shooting practice for many months,” Bjørn roared Online newspaper by.

Hedegart decided to switch to smooth skiing a year ago because he didn’t learn to shoot well enough to compete against the world’s best.

Tuesday Hedegart had time to announce that he would invest in sprint training next and before long also in learning the traditional way of skiing.

“I still plan to become a good general skier,” he told VG.

According to the International Skiing Federation (FIS) database, he has not skied a single FIS category traditional competition in the previous eight years. There aren’t many sprint races either.

Coach of the Norwegian cross country team Eirik Myhr Nossum recently recalled NRK: n in the interview that Hedegart will not become a world-class traditional skier “at least not yet next year”.

Hedegart said in December For Yle Urheilu that he practices tradition “consciously” only by flat pushing. He named traditional technology as a role model Iivo Niskanen.

However, it is still unclear whether Hedegart will eventually become a top-level skier or biathlon skier.

“One should never say never, he commented on Wednesday in Nettavisen’s news”, which reported on Bjørndalen’s intervention.