Thomas Alsgaard (born 10 January 1972) is a Norwegian former professional cross-country skier. Alsgaard is regarded by many as the best performer of the freestyle technique (skating) in cross-country skiing and many of today's best skiers have studied his technique. In total, Alsgaard won 15 medals in the

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

and

FIS Nordic World Ski Championships The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships is a biennial nordic skiing event organized by the International Ski Federation (FIS). The World Championships was started in 1925 for men and opened for women's participation in 1954. World Championship eve ...

, making him one of the most successful skiers of all time.

Early life

Born in

Flateby Flateby is a village in Enebakk municipality, 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 Pe ...

Enebakk Enebakk is a municipality in Akershus in Viken county, Norway. It is part of the Follo traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Kirkebygda. The parish of ''Enebak'' was established as a municipality ...

, Alsgaard began cross-country ski racing at the age of three. That was when he was entered into a race against many 5-year-olds. He beat all of them. A year later, it was rumored that he was lost in the village the family lived in. In fact, he was found at the local ski area, just about to start his third time around a 9-kilometer loop. Alsgaard says that his passion for skiing comes from liking to be outdoors.

Athletic career

Alsgaard got his international breakthrough in the

Lillehammer Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the munic ...

1994 Winter Olympics The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games ( no, De 17. olympiske vinterleker; nn, Dei 17. olympiske vinterleikane) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, was an international winter multi-sport event held fr ...

winning the 30 kilometre freestyle event. In total, Alsgaard won 15 medals in the

and

, making him one of the most successful skiers of all time. Alsgaard won at least one gold medal at every Olympic Games and World Championships that he participated. Alsgaard retired from racing after the 2003 World Championships. He won the Holmenkollen medal in 2001 (shared with

Adam Małysz Adam Henryk Małysz (; born 3 December 1977) is a Polish former ski jumper and rally driver. He competed in ski jumping from 1995 to 2011 and is one of the most successful athletes in the history of the sport. His many accomplishments include ...

and

Bente Skari Bente Skari, née Martinsen, (born 10 September 1972) is a Norwegian former cross-country skier. She is one of the most successful cross-country skiers ever. Career She won her first Olympic medals in 1998, and won her first gold medal in the 20 ...

After his career as a professional skier

Alsgaard retired from racing in 2003. Between 2013 and 2017 he was the owner and manager of a ski team,

Team LeasePlan A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to inf ...

. He now works as a technical advisor for Alpina Sports, working in the Nordic boot department. He is also known as a sports commentator for the

Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the larges ...

. In the Norwegian Championship in January 2011, Alsgaard took a sensational bronze medal at the 15 km classical individual race, defeating many skiers on the Norwegian World Cup team. He was only beaten by

Eldar Rønning Eldar Rønning (born 11 June 1982 in Levanger) is a Norwegian former cross-country skier. He skis with the Skogn IL club, in Nord-Trøndelag. Career In 2004/05, he achieved three podium finishes in World Cup Sprint events, including a win at Rei ...

(gold) and

Martin Johnsrud Sundby Martin Johnsrud Sundby (born 26 September 1984) is a former Norwegian cross-country skier who competed between 2003 and 2021. He is a two time Olympic champion at the 2018 Winter Olympics in the team sprint and relay and was also a silver and bron ...

(silver). He repeated the feat in 2012, expressing frustration with the lack of aggressiveness and initiative in both the younger elite athletes and the team surrounding them.

Ski Classics team owner

As of December 2016 the team consists of four "allround" skiers and six skiers with ''langløp'' (or long races) as their specialty; Swede

Lina Korsgren Lina (pronounced "Leena") is a feminine given name. Languages of origin include: English, Italian, Lithuanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Persian, Kurdish, Arabic. It is also the short form of a variety of names ending in -lina including Catali ...

is the team's only female (as of 2016);

Hans Kristian Stadheim Hans may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Hans (name), a masculine given name * Hans Raj Hans, Indian singer and politician ** Navraj Hans, Indian singer, actor, entrepreneur, cricket player and performer, son of Hans Raj Hans ** Yuvraj Hans, Punjab ...

assists in coaching. On 21 April 2017, Alsgaard announced that Team LeasePlan had to shut down due to sponsorship problems.

Cross-country skiing results

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

Olympic Games

* 6 medals – (5 gold, 1 silver)

World Championships

* 9 medals – (6 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze)

World Cup

Season titles

* 3 titles – (1 overall, long distance, 1 sprint)

Season standings

Individual podiums

* 13 victories * 29 podiums

Team podiums

* 12 victories – (12 ) * 25 podiums – (24 , 1 ) Note: Until the 1999 World Championships and the 1994 Olympics, World Championship and Olympic races were included in the World Cup scoring system.

Equipment

Alsgaard used skis from

Madshus Madshus is a Norwegian ski and ski-equipment manufacturer, located at Biri in Gjøvik. The company produces cross-country skis, ski boots and poles. History Madshus is one of the world's oldest ski manufacturer. The first Madshus skis we ...

, one of

Alpina Alpina Burkard Bovensiepen GmbH & Co. KG is an automobile manufacturing company based in Buchloe, in the Ostallgäu district of Bavaria, Germany that develops and sells high-performance versions of BMW cars. Alpina works closely with BMW an ...

's partners, with

boots A boot is a type of footwear. Boot or Boots may also refer to: Businesses * Boot Inn, Chester, Cheshire, England * Boots (company), a high-street pharmacy chain and manufacturer of pharmaceuticals in the United Kingdom * The Boot, Cromer St ...

and

Rottefella Rottefella is a Norwegian manufacturing company of winter sports equipment, more specifically ski bindings. The name "Rottefella" refers to the three-pin binding invented by Bror With in 1927, inspired on a couple of rat traps he had seen in a h ...

bindings.

References

*
Holmenkollen medalists
– click Holmenkollmedaljen for downloadable pdf file
Holmenkollen winners since 1892
– click Vinnere for downloadable pdf file {{DEFAULTSORT:Alsgaard, Thomas 1972 births Cross-country skiers at the 1994 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 1998 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 2002 Winter Olympics Holmenkollen medalists Holmenkollen Ski Festival winners Living people Norwegian male cross-country skiers Norwegian skiing and biathlon commentators Olympic cross-country skiers of Norway Olympic gold medalists for Norway Olympic silver medalists for Norway Olympic medalists in cross-country skiing FIS Cross-Country World Cup champions FIS Nordic World Ski Championships medalists in cross-country skiing Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1998 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1994 Winter Olympics People from Akershus Sportspeople from Viken (county)