OBERSTDORF: What is the recipe for success? Several ski countries asked Norway for help and employed Norwegian trainers and lubricants.

The skis were tested in the sun at the cross-country stadium in Oberstdorf. It is trained and guided. Some coaches have “China” written on their clothes, others have “Canada” and “Liechtenstein”. What many people don’t know is that many of them have Norwegian passports.

In the World Ski Championships, many Norwegians were assigned to other countries to strengthen the sport.

Trainers who choose to go abroad agree that their knowledge must be shared.

At the World Cup, there were Norwegian coaches representing China, Canada, Great Britain, Iceland and Lichtenstein.

Erik Braten (28) was hired as a national team coach in Canada, but never dreamed that he would be given full responsibility for 20 runners aged 16 to 30, male and female.

– Right after I came to Canada in 2018, the sports director and the person in charge of coaching quit. “That makes me the only one working full time,” he said.

Bråten was at Oberstdorf, where he had the best runners. He is one of several former skiers and cross-country coaches given the interesting assignment. This is to increase the level of cross-country skiers in other countries.

– Cross-country skiing depends entirely on Norway not just dominating the sport, he said.

Gather knowledge and experience

– In Great Britain, in some sports they look for the country with the best performance. “Norwegian is interesting because we are leaders in the sport of cross-country skiing, and our level of knowledge is very high,” he said Jostein Vinjerui.

Along with Hans Kristian Stadheim he is in charge of Great Britain at the World Ski Championships and has been in charge since before the Pyeongchang Olympics in 2018. When Andrew Musgrave was seventh over 30km in Oberstdorf, it was his best result at these championships so far.

Bernhard Ronning was in Oberstdorf as coordinator for China.

Trønder has been in office since 2018, and this is his second WC.

– If we succeed in creating interest in big countries like China, this will be very positive for the sport of cross-country skiing.

Kristian Bjunes Sveen is the coach of the national team, but as in Russia, there are several teams.

After Norway and China agreed to a cooperation agreement during a visit to President Xi Jinping, many Norwegians were involved as coaches for Chinese runners, but Rønning worked at the World Cup to keep up with the best.

He believes that nothing would be better than China entering the cross-border map.

– Then we almost saved cross-country skiing. Cross-country skiing is a minor sport. If we succeed in creating interest in big countries like China, this will be very positive for the sport.

Many have already registered

Although young Chinese come to Norway and stay there for a long time, there are several Norwegian coaches who have contributed or contributed in various roles at home and in China. Anita Moen has become one of them. Ole-Marius Bach, Terje Langli And Torjus Borsheim helps strengthen knowledge about training and lubrication.

China’s goal is to develop runners for their own Olympics in Beijing in 2022. There are also Norwegian runners abroad.

Liechtenstein wants it Karoline Moen Guidon who trains his juniors.

Long experience in Iceland

Vegard Karlstrøm has been Iceland’s coach for three years. Now he is at Oberstdorf, among others, with Snorri Einarsson.

– Increasing knowledge about this sport is about the survival of cross-country skiing, he said and added:

– Norwegian ski culture is highly sought after.

Brit Baldishol at the Norwegian Ski Association for ten years has brought together young athletes and coaches from abroad, for the exchange of knowledge and learning at the annual meeting in Norway.

– It is important to involve the trainers, because they are the ones who take the knowledge. We also learned a lot from here, because in the evening there were academic discussions.

At most, 21 countries have participated in junior meetings. And Norway wants to contribute at a higher level among other countries.

– The economy depends on a larger number of countries than Norway, Sweden, Russia, Finland.