Pål Anders Ullevålseter (born 7 December 1968, in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

) is a Norwegian

rally raid Rally raid, also known as cross-country rallying, is a form of long distance off-road racing that takes place over several days. The length of the event can be as short as 2–3 days for a cross-country baja to as long as 15 days with marathon ra ...

motorcycle rider. He came in second at the 2010

Dakar Rally The Dakar Rally (or simply "The Dakar"; formerly known as the "Paris–Dakar Rally") is an annual rally raid organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation. Most events since the inception in 1978 were staged from Paris, France, to Dakar, Senegal, ...

e, captured the 2004

FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship The FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship was the premier championship of Rally raid racing, organized by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM), from 1999 to 2021 (from 1999 and 2002 as World Cup). Asides the main championsh ...

and has won the

Africa Eco Race Africa Eco Race is an annual rally raid, organised in France and run in North and West Africa, launched after the cancellation of 2008 Dakar Rally, and the subsequent moving of the rally to South America. The rally claims to have innovated to gi ...

twice.

Dakar Rally

He has competed in the

11 times and was the first Norwegian to complete the race. His best result came in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

when he came in second, finishing just over an hour behind winner

Cyril Despres Cyril Despres (born 24 January 1974) is a French rally racer and resident of Andorra. He won the Dakar Rally five times, in 2005, 2007, 2010, 2012 and 2013, riding a KTM motorcycle. He also won the Red Bull Romaniacs, one of the toughest hard e ...

Africa Eco Race

He won the

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

and

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

, dominating completely the races, and winning 16 stages. Prior to the 2016 edition, Ullevålseter had stated, his goal was not to win the race, but to raise as much money as possible for a school in

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...

, founded by

Fabrizio Meoni Fabrizio Meoni (31 December 1957 – 11 January 2005) was an Italian off-road and rallying motorcycle racer. He was a member of the KTM Factory Team. Biography Meoni was born in Castiglion Fiorentino, Italy. Meoni was married and had two children ...

, who died during the Dakar Rallye in 2005. In 2017, Ullevålseter finished second overall behind South African

Gev Sella Gev Teddy Sella is an Israeli-South African motorcycle rider. Career A native of Netanya, he has been riding on a motorcycle since he was five years old. He has two younger brothers, Tsuk and Suff. "The best thing I can do is to be on the bike. ...

FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship

In 2004, he won the

. He took the third place in 2006 and captured silver in 2007.

Other accomplishments

Ullevålseter won the

Rallye des Pharaons The Rallye des Pharaons (French for "Pharaohs Rally") was a rally-raid event that took place in Egypt between 1982 and 2015. Cairo was both the starting and finishing point at the foot of the pyramids of Giza, and the rally covered roughly around . ...

in 2004 and claimed victory at the Merzouga Rally in 2014.

Personal

He announced his engagement with former kickboxing world champion Mette Solli in May 2015. A celebrity in Norway, Ullevålseter won the 2007 season of "Isdans", the Norwegian equivalent of

Dancing on Ice ''Dancing on Ice'' is a British television series presented by Phillip Schofield alongside Holly Willoughby from 2006 to 2011, who then returned in 2018, and Christine Bleakley from 2012 to 2014. The series features celebrities and their profe ...

, alongside Anna Pushkova. In 2013, he competed in "Skal vi danse", the Norwegian version of

Dancing With The Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the forma ...

References

Norwegian motorcycle racers Enduro riders Off-road motorcycle racers Dakar Rally motorcyclists 1968 births Living people Sportspeople from Oslo {{Motorcycle-racing-bio-stub