It is the brothers Nordli standing behind the Swenor roller skis in Norway. The roller skis are put together in a small building just down the street from the private house where the brothers have a sports shop in the basement.

They were three brothers, but the middle brother, Vidar, unfortunately, died in 2017. Now it’s the former cross-country skier and orienteerer, Jimmy, 77 years old, and the oldest brother, who runs the sports shop. The youngest brother, Magne, takes care of the roller skis.

In the office, there are also Vidar’s daughters, Elin and Ida Nordli. Ida is now the CEO of the company, and Elin is handling all the exports and marketing. They are supposed to take over and run the company, named Sport Import AS, in the future.

It was a coincidence that roller skis should be their life. And Sweden is to “blame” for it all.

“It all started in Sweden. P-O Pettersen, a former cross-country skier and leader, is Mr. Swenor. He invented the mark and the name, and he developed the first models,” says Magne Nordli to Langrenn.com.

P-O Petterson understood the importance of the wheels. He insisted that the rubber should be mixed to give the skis the best possible glide on the asphalt. They rapidly became popular, and P-O spent a lot of time testing in Norway.

That’s why the name is Swenor

Pettersson convinced the Norwegian top skiers about the advantage of the skis. They got interested, and suddenly, he had more or less all the best Norwegian skiers on his roller skis. That’s why he decided to name them Swenor.

The sales also increased quickly, and P-O Pettersson got Swenor into the sports company Hallman Sports in Sweden. They were a major distributor of sporting goods at the time, which was in the 1980s and 1990s.

“We started by importing Swenor in the 80s, and in the 90’s, we were offered to buy the whole mark,” says Magne Nordli and tells us that the three brothers by the Trøsken bridge had to mortgage all their houses to get up with 1 million Norwegian kroner.

But after this, they have never looked back. And today, you can find Swenor in most countries where people use roller skis.

“We actually got our first export order from Japan. The first year, we sold 1.500 pairs,” says the youngest brother, Nordli.

2010 was the best year

The sales increased slowly but steadily, and in Sweden, the company hired Hans Fagerberg from LL Agentur as their representative. Because now the skis were made in Norway.

And Hans is still importing Swenor to Sweden. And the skis are still put together by the bridge in Trøsken.

“2010 was a special year. For the first time, we sold more than 10.000 pairs in one year. The record is 16.991 pairs in one year, but today, the average is slightly lower than that. Suddenly, everybody wanted roller skis, and we sold the first pairs to the USA.”

Magne says that today, Swenor is present in most EU countries and even in exotic skiing nations such as India, Brazil, Tasmania, and Thailand.

The development is happening with the wheels

“The roller skis haven’t changed that much during the years. Today, there are 17-18 different models of Swenor. The development has been biggest for the wheels and the rubber. We have done this development ourselves. I don’t think there is much more we can do with the wheels now,” says Magne Nordli, who is talking about special skating wheels, classic wheels, wheels for the elite, and a lot of different types.

Swenor has had – and still has – the help of some of the best cross-country skiers to develop their products. Among the stars on the posters, we see Bjørn Dæhlie, Petter Northug, and Simen Hegstad Krüger.

“And we have a lot of foreign stars as well,” says Magne and names both Iivo Niskanen and more or less the whole Swedish national team.

Everything happens in “Terjes snekkerbu”

The roller skis are put together in Trøsken. It’s a workshop just down the street from the sports shop. Here, we find Terje Engen and Else Nordli, the wife of the late Vidar Nordli. In the stall, you will see roller skis nearly from the floor to the roof.

We also find the roller skis marked with “Aukland.” Swenor makes them.

“Anders Aukland is actually coming by tomorrow to pick up these,” says Terje Engen, who is very proud of the sign on the outside of the door: “Terjes snekkerbu,” which means something like “Terje’s carpenter stall.”

With significant experience, he is showing us how the different components – coming from different producers in different countries – are put together until you have the ready roller skis. The speed of the work is impressive. Terje only has one problem.

“He is a fan of Fredrikstad, and that’s not very popular here,” says colleague Else Nordli. She and the rest of the crew are all fans of Sarpsborg. They are the two local clubs in Norway’s highest football league, and the fight is always ongoing.

Less snow – but still cross-country skiing

Less snow, a longer summer season, and more training on roller skis.

Additionally, more roller ski competitions are now available to watch on TV or stream. For sure, roller skiing is becoming a more and more important part of a cross-country skier’s daily life.

“We notice that the winter is shorter and that most of the people are ordering earlier than normal,” says Magne Nordli.

But he doesn’t think that roller skiing will take over from cross-country skiing in the future. Magne believes the well-known cross-country sport will survive despite warmer weather and shorter seasons.

Has its own World Champion

Then you might wonder about that World Champion we mentioned in the beginning.

Well, tiny Trøsken – which is actually only a bridge over the river Glomma, the company Swenor, and a few houses – has a sports club as well.

Jens Arne Svartedal represented the club when he won the World Championships sprint in Sapporo, Japan, in 2007. The club Trøsken IL is also the home to Amund Korsæth, who has won the overall Roller Ski World Cup.

Trøsken is situated approximately 15 minutes by car north of the city of Sarpsborg in southeastern Norway. You take road 114 at Tunevannet and drive towards Skiptvet.

But be aware when crossing the bridge. You might suddenly have passed it without noticing it!

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