“My heart is in skiing, and I look forward to the opportunity to contribute with the knowledge and experience I gained during my years at the top of the world,” says the 14-time World Champion and four-time Olympic gold medalist Therese Johaug in a press release.

In April last year, Therese Johaug ended a career as fantastic as it was victorious. During her last three major championships – the 2019 World Championships, the 2021 World Championships, and the 2022 Winter Olympics – she won all nine distance races. In total, she became World Champion 14 times and won four Olympic golds. In the World Cup, she stood on the podium 170 times, 100 times at the top. 

Read More: Therese Johaug ends her career

The 35-year-old, a new mother, will now be essential when Team Eksjöhus and Team Aker Dæhlie start a new project.

By inviting to lectures, training days, and training courses and working together with both the top and youth girls, the two teams hope that many more will continue to do sports later in life. 

“On the competition tracks, Team Aker Dæhlie and we are competitors, but on the other hand, both we and the sport of skiing, in general, have a lot to gain from letting go of the prestige and together using the knowledge we possess so that more women can continue to do sports at a high level. Today, too many young girls quit early,” says Marthe Kristoffersen, sports manager and coach for Team Eksjöhus. 

“We want to create more female role models for the young girls, create a greater understanding, give them security in the sports environment, and work together with external actors in research and development. That Therese wants to be a part of this project feels fantastic. We have known each other for many years, and she is a fantastic person and skier who comes in with an enormous amount of competence.” 

Johaug and Kristoffersen won, for example, the Junior World Championships relay gold in 2008 and were then part of the Norwegian Ski Association’s project Team Turbo. 

“It’s fun that Team Turbo reunites again (and laughs)! It will be extremely fun to be part of this project and work with Marthe and others who are also passionate about cross-country skiing. I am also looking forward to working with the young talents that are coming up,” says Therese Johaug. 

In addition to Johaug and Kristoffersen, the Norwegians Guru Strøm Solli, Kari Vikhagen Gjeitnes, and the former Swedish World Cup medalist Maria Rydqvist will also participate in the project. 

“I have previously been very involved in gender equality work in skiing, so this project feels important. I look forward to working with Therese, Marthe, Guri, Kari, and many others to create conditions for young girls and future female leaders in skiing,” says Rydqvist.

Guro Strøm Solli is a former Norwegian national team skier and today a recognized sports researcher with a doctorate in endurance training and teaches sports physiology, training theory, and research methods at Nord University in Meråker. She says that the project is important to inspire more young female skiers to invest more to have the opportunity to reach their full potential. She also hopes to focus on increasing knowledge about female athletes, contributing to more women wishing to remain in sports as coaches or leaders. 

Kari Vikhagen Gjeijtnes also has a background in the Norwegian national team and currently works, among other things, as a coach for both Team Aker Dæhlie and Wang’s ski gymnasium. Through the project, she looks forward to giving coaches in different age groups valuable and overall knowledge, but also special knowledge linked to the sporting development of girls and women.