Ends his cross-country skiing career, switches sports, and moves to a completely new arena.

Didrik Tønseth has decided to end his cross-country skiing career. For the World Cup veteran, who was dropped from the Norwegian national team last year, the goal was to qualify for the Olympic Games in Milano-Cortina. That did not happen.

At the end of January, the 34-year-old from Byåsen IL announced that he will retire after the current season. He and his partner are expecting their first child in April.

Now Tønseth has landed a job in a unique program at Trondheimsfjord Folk High School. There, he will work as a coach for the school’s new running program, the only one of its kind in Norway.

“I know myself how much my coaches have meant to me, not only in terms of results but also how much I learned from them. Now I want to give something back for everything I’ve learned,” Tønseth told Adresseavisen.

Beat Ingebrigtsen

Didrik Tønseth is far from an unknown name in running and has previously said he considered switching sports to running.

He won both the Norwegian Championship gold and silver in cross-country running in 2018 and 2019, respectively, and also competed at the 2019 European Cross Country Championships. He has run 10,000 meters in 29:48 and also held the Norwegian national cross-country skiing record for 3,000 meters for several years.

The skier has even beaten running star Henrik Ingebrigtsen. That happened in 2023 at the prestigious Stoltzekleiven Opp uphill race in Bergen.

Tønseth finished third overall and beat Ingebrigtsen by almost a minute. Afterwards, Tønseth commented that that type of uphill running was not exactly their strongest arena.

“But it’s probably more my arena than a flat track,” Tønseth said at the time.

Now he will likely work more with both types of running. The high school has a nearby tartan running track as well as trails and roads with different surfaces.

“Now I’m well on my way to becoming the runner I said I wouldn’t become,” Tønseth said with satisfaction.

The position is full-time, and Tønseth will start when the school year begins in autumn.

Olympic and World Championship gold

With that, a long and eventful skiing career is coming to an end. Since making his World Cup debut in Falun in February 2015, Tønseth has competed in four World Championships and one Olympic Games.

He has won two World Championship gold medals, one Olympic gold medal in the relay, several Norwegian Championship medals, and six World Cup victories.

His Olympic gold came in the relay in PyeongChang 2018.

Tønseth himself highlights the relay gold at the 2015 World Championships in Falun as a career highlight.

“The relay rivalry between Norway and Sweden was quite intense at that time. It was a great experience to ski the relay for Norway, even though Johan Olsson beat me. But when he retired, I read that he said it was one of the best races he had done. I was actually quite satisfied with my race as well, even though he crushed me.”

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