How many spots are actually still up for grabs at Beitostølen has not been clarified.

The new Norwegian criteria for World Cup selection, combined with new FIS rules that sharply reduce how many athletes Norway can select, have created a new situation.

Ahead of the national season opener at Beitostølen, no one knows for sure how many spots are actually up for grabs at Beitostølen. National team skiers, who previously have had priority in selection for the World Cup opener, say they feel greater pressure and uncertainty.

Mattis Stenshagen, who made the national team this spring, is said to have received the green light and confirms that some have been informed, but thinks there may be more turmoil.

“Quite a few have been selected. Where previously it has been the best in each distance… It will turn into a hornet’s nest eventually with the selections,” Stenshagen tells TV 2.

The uncertainty comes partly in the wake of what the chairman of the cross-country committee, Håkon Solvik, said at a meeting of Trøndersk Skilaug two weeks ago.

There, he presented changes to the selection rules meaning that skiers on the cross-country national team will no longer have priority in World Cup selections. Previously, they have been prioritized in selections before Christmas. Now, results are to count the most. But there should also be room for discretion.

Also Read: Norwegian cross-country skiing teams for season 2026/2027

See the facts about the new selection criteria further down in the article.

Cross-country expert on the clear-the-air meeting: “Changes nothing”

Following the statement, Solvik had to attend a clear-the-air meeting with the national team. There, he explained that the national team management will still be able to use discretion and previous results as a basis for selection.

National team head coach Per Elias Kalfoss is pleased with the outcome.

“I think it was more about clarifying expectations. We’ve had some good meetings with Håkon and the cross-country committee. I feel it has been sorted out, and it’s very clear now,” Kalfoss tells TV 2.

Cross-country expert Petter Soleng Skinstad is not as impressed. He believes neither the clear-the-air meeting nor the clarification from the chairman of the cross-country committee will quell the noise surrounding the new selection rules or lead to less turmoil in connection with the selections after the season opener at Beitostølen.

“It’s only his own statements he (Håkon Solvik) is backtracking on, so this changes nothing, the way I see it,” Skinstad tells Langrenn.com.

“The national team will still prioritize its own, and in many cases that will be entirely right, but at the same time there will be cases where the right thing will be to let someone from the outside in already in Ruka,” he says, and continues:

“Selection based exclusively on discretion, which is what it will be in practice now, creates fertile ground for possibly even more debate than before.”

Skinstad points out that those who perform at the season opener at Beitostølen and the Norway Cup opener at Gålå the following weekend will claim that they are precisely the ones who should race the World Cup, particularly ahead of national team skiers who underperform at Beitostølen, “and then the national team management will do its part to use discretion for all it’s worth.”

Don’t know how many spots are up for grabs

Some of the national team skiers, in other words, are said to have already received signals. Last season’s breakout star Lars Heggen tells TV 2 that he does not know how many spots there really are to fight for at Beitostølen.

According to national team head coach Per Elias Kalfoss, only three skiers are guaranteed a spot in the squad for the World Cup opener in Ruka.

Tiril Udnes Weng and Even Solem Michelsen have free spots for all World Cup rounds up until the Tour de Ski as overall winners of the Scandinavian Cup last winter. The same applies to Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, who won the overall World Cup.

Kalfoss will not comment on whether other skiers have already received signals.

“We select the team after the Beitostølen weekend,” he tells TV 2.

The season opener at Beitostølen takes place November 20 to 22.

Facts: these are the new criteria for Norwegian selection to the 2026/2027 World Cup

• Results in the current season
• Results from the previous season
• Performances at previous championships
• The season’s overarching sporting goals

Also Read: The selection criteria for the 2026/27 season

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