Team Aker Dæhlie dominated last season from November to April. This year, they have barely been on the podium. What happened to the Norwegian Pro Team?

Midway through the season, the Norwegian Pro Team stands with few highlights on the results page in Ski Classics Season XV. Now, the management and support staff of Team Aker Dæhlie are turning every stone to turn the ship around and save the season.

Last year, Team Aker Dæhlie took podium places weekend after weekend and a dominant victory in the Pro Team competition in Ski Classics. They finished with third place overall in the series on the men’s side, second place in the men’s youth competition, and second place in the sprint and climbing competition for men and women, respectively, in their very first season. This year, there is little to celebrate so far.

Midway through the season, the team with the largest budget and support staff in Ski Classics is in sixth place in the Pro Team competition, standing with 713 points against the leading Team Eksjöhus with 1360. Silje Øyre Slind is the team’s highest-ranked skier in eighth place overall; last year’s star Max Novak is in 13th place.

“We had hoped for more,” says team manager Joachim Aurland to Langrenn.com, admitting that it creates frustration.

“It obviously affects everyone, both the athletes and the support staff,” he says.

Also Read: This is the standing in Ski Classics after Marcialonga

The largest Norwegian private initiative of all time

Team Aker Dæhlie was established ahead of last season and delivered a fairy tale list of merits in the team’s first year. It is Bjørn Dæhlie and Kjell Inge Røkke at Aker who are behind the Norwegian major initiative, which has a budget of over 15 million kroner a year.

For the current season, the team has over 45 athletes divided between long-distance and traditional cross-country skiing, and an extensive support staff, not least in the waxing and equipment side. But for the long-distance skiers, this is where they are struggling the most now.

The team manager is clear about where the problem for Team Aker Dæhlie lies: The athletes do not have competitive equipment.

“The athletes are in good shape. It is we in the waxing room who have not quite gotten it right after Christmas. We have delivered poor skis, and I take responsibility for that,” says Aurland.

What makes you not hit the mark?

“Well, if we had the answer to that, we would have done something about it.”

Why are you struggling more this year?

“It’s probably a combination of things. But after the ban on fluorinated products, there have been many new products and new methods for using them that we were not so familiar with. After Christmas, there has been a lot of special snow conditions, and we have not succeeded with the cold, dry snow conditions we have had after Christmas.”

Nor in Marcialonga, a race they have long experience with, did they manage to hit the mark with the skis.

“It became much colder than we had expected. When we were out testing for the last time around four o’clock in the morning, it was just four-five degrees below zero. But when the skiers went to start a few hours later, the temperature was down to 12-13 below.”

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“Sad for the athletes”

Former waxing chief for the Norwegian national cross-country team Knut Nystad is now the managing director of Team Aker Dæhlie. He, too, is scratching his head over the problems in the waxing cabin of the long-distance team.

“We have to be honest that currently, we are not good enough on the equipment side. It is sad for the athletes, and we are working to turn the ship around,” says Nystad to Langrenn.com.

Even though he clearly sees where the problem lies, he has no concrete solutions.

“We have not managed the transition to fluor-free as well as some of the other teams. It’s just to admit. Maybe we have used the wrong products, wrong methodology in application, wrong structure. There are many factors here. But the athletes are in shape. They perform in other types of races, and test sessions they run when they are home show the same.”

What steps are you taking to solve the equipment problems?

“I use the environments around me, and I’m fortunate in that I have been in the game for a while, so I have some people I can call up and ask. It goes both ways: we ask others for advice and tips, and we give advice when others ask. We just must continue testing and testing and testing. And we must test at relevant distances. It’s not like we suddenly have become bad at waxing skis. We have delivered world-class skis in other races.”

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Now, Aurland and Nystad hope that the skiers will start with better skis already this weekend.

“We just have to roll up our sleeves and do what we can to give the athletes good enough skis. But now normal winter conditions are predicted for the races in Orsa this weekend.”

Team Aker Dæhlie will compete with six athletes: Max Novak, Petter Stakston, Stian Hoelgaard, and Thomas Bucher-Johannessen, as well as Guro Jordheim and Silje Øyre Slind on the women’s side.

“We hope we manage to send them out with good skis. Then I think they will be far up and fighting for both podium places and victories. Everyone is good enough to fight for the podium, but they depend on good skis,” says Aurland.

Nystad agrees:

“One thing we have really discovered with this is that you should be very grateful for all the times you have good skis. Now we get to taste a bit of the medal’s backside. And I just must commend the entire team for the attitude they show and the way they handle this. But it would taste extra good with a little upturn now.”