Tor Arne Hetland (born 12 January 1974) is a Norwegian cross-country skiing coach and a former professional

cross-country skier Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreation ...

. Hetland was born in

Stavanger Stavanger (, , American English, US usually , ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the fourth largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the a ...

. He now lives in

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

. While active he represented

Byåsen IL Byåsen Idrettslag is a multi-sport club from Trondheim, Norway. It has sections for association football (one for elite, one for women's and one for grassroots football), athletics, handball (one for elite and one for grassroots handball), ori ...

ski club. He was coached by

Ulf Morten Aune Ulf, or Ulv is a masculine name common in Scandinavia and Germany. It derives from the Old Norse word for "wolf" (''úlfr'', see Wulf). The oldest written record of the name's occurrence in Sweden is from a runestone of the 11th century. The fe ...

. Hetland is and ().

World Cup career

Hetland began his career in 1990, but only started competing in the World Cup in 1996/97, where he finished 11th in the long distance standings and 46th in the sprint, finishing 30th in the overall standings. The year after he did much worse, coming 42nd in the long distance, and 78th in the sprint, finishing 62nd overall. For the next three seasons he improved his overall standing and became a main contender in the sprint. In 1998/99 he came second in the sprints, and 23rd in the overall, in 1999/2000 he came fourth in the sprints but had a better long distance season than the one before, and in 2000/01 he came third in the sprints and 12th overall. In 2001/02 he came 13th in the overall standing, whilst finishing the sprint in sixth, and in 2003/04 he came fourth in the sprint, and claimed his first distance points, coming in 37th, and 14th in the overall. The following season, 2004/05, was Hetland's most successful year to date, winning the sprint title, and coming third in the overall standings. Hetland finished the 2005/06 FIS World Cup season in third place, 259 points behind Tobias Angerer, and 7 points behind fellow countryman

Jens Arne Svartedal Jens Arne Svartedal (born February 14, 1976) is a Norwegian former cross-country skier who competed in the World Cup between 1999 and 2010. He represented Trøsken IL from Sarpsborg in Norway. His greatest achievement is winning the individual s ...

. He finished third in the sprints, 163 points behind

Björn Lind Björn Johan Lind (born March 22, 1978, in Ljusterö, Uppland) is a Swedish former cross-country skier who competed since 2000. Competing in three Winter Olympics, he won gold medals in both the Individual and Team sprint events at Turin in 2006. ...

, and 20 points behind

Thobias Fredriksson Thobias Fredriksson (born 4 April 1975 in Dals Rostock, Dalsland) is a Swedish former cross-country skier who competed since 2000. He won two medals at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin with a gold in the team sprint and a bronze in the individ ...

. He was 20th in the distance standings, 632 points behind Angerer. Hetland has had 23 podium finishes in his World Cup career, 10 in first place, 10 in second place and three in third place. He has podiumed at least once every season since 1996/97, except for 1997/98 and 1999/2000. The most podium finishes he has had in one season was in 2004/05 when he had five. He had four in 2005/06 and three for three consecutive seasons from 2000/01. Of his 23 podium finishes all but three have come in sprints. His first non sprint podium was in 1996/97, when he came second in a 50 km race. In 2000/01 he came third in a 15 km race and on 19 November 2005 he won his first distance race (15 km) in Beitostølen,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. The victory on this particular course was no great shock as the Beitostølen track is very flat as the tracks on the cross country circuit goes, and when taken into consideration that the Norwegian athletes, much like the larger teams like the Germans and Russians, are expected to be in near top condition at the beginning of the season so as to secure team selection. His victory in the sprint event in Vernon,

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

on 12 December 2005, was his 100th career race.

Retirement

Hetland announced his retirement the week of 27 April 2009 to a lingering knee injury and

asthma Asthma is a long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wheezing, cou ...

. He stated that he "...

elt ELT may refer to: Education * English language teaching * Expanded learning time, an American education strategy * Kolb's experiential learning theory Mathematics and science * Ending lamination theorem * Extremely large telescope, a type ...

.. like I am quitting like I am top".

Cross-country skiing results

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).

Olympic Games

* 2 medals – (1 gold, 1 silver)

World Championships

* 5 medals – (3 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze)

World Cup

Season titles

* 1 title – (1 sprint)

Season standings

Individual podiums

* 13 victories (11 , 2 ) * 35 podiums (30 , 5 )

Team podiums

* 12 victories – (8 , 4 ) * 24 podiums – (15 , 9 )

References

* FIS Newsflash 229. 29 April 2009. - accessed 30 April 2009.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hetland, Tor Arne Norwegian male cross-country skiers 1974 births Living people Sportspeople from Stavanger Olympic cross-country skiers of Norway Cross-country skiers at the 1998 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 2002 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Norway Olympic silver medalists for Norway Olympic medalists in cross-country skiing FIS Nordic World Ski Championships medalists in cross-country skiing Tour de Ski skiers Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics Norwegian cross-country skiing coaches