This winter’s comeback skier did it again: Helene Marie Fossesholm won a medal at the Norwegian Championships in mountain biking – four years after her last start.

Helene Marie Fossesholm was in top form during this weekend’s Norwegian Mountain Biking Championships in Oslo. The 24-year-old raced to third place and a bronze medal in her first Norwegian Championships in four years. She also beat several full-time cyclists.

Also Read: National team rejection became a turning point

An Important Part of Her Sporting Joy

For Fossesholm, cycling has been an important part of her overall training setup. She previously competed in mountain biking at the World Cup level, alongside her career in cross-country skiing. That continued until she joined the elite national cross-country team in the 2020/2021 season, at which point she had to give up competitive cycling.

But after Fossesholm lost her national team spot in the spring of 2024 and brought her father back as her coach, cycling has once again become a significant part of her off-season training.

After three challenging seasons, she made a strong comeback last winter at the top level, with several top 10 finishes in the World Cup, Norwegian Championships medals, and a place on the Norwegian national team for the World Championships in Trondheim.

This year, Fossesholm continues her career outside the national team. And on Saturday, the 24-year-old claimed Norwegian Championships bronze in mountain biking, her third senior-level Norwegian Championships medal in the sport.

Previously, Fossesholm won seven gold medals at junior NM in mountain biking between 2015 and 2019, as well as a gold and a silver at the senior NM in 2021. She also earned a bronze in cross-country at the Junior World Championships in 2019.

Also Read – Cycling for skiers: A valuable tool for summer training

Popular Combination

Fossesholm’s experience is that the two sports complement each other, providing training benefits with substantial transfer value.

And she is far from the only cross-country skier who competes in both skiing and cycling. In recent years, several Norwegian talents have performed well in both disciplines.

Read More: Going full gas in two sports: “Why choose when I can be good at both?”

Training Less

Fossesholm was only 18 years old when she joined the elite national team in the spring of 2020. Her first season was a resounding success, marked by strong performances in the World Cup, a World Championships relay gold, and top-10 individual finishes at the 2021 World Championships in Oberstdorf. Everything pointed toward an excellent debut at the Olympics.

But that’s not how it turned out.

According to Langrenn.com, Fossesholm is clear about what went wrong:

“I trained too much during my first year on the national team.”

That’s why Fossesholm now trains less and keeps her weekly volume more consistent.

“I train less, and I train a more even amount instead of a lot of periodization. I’d rather stick to a steady volume than have big peaks. Those peaks are costly, even if you significantly reduce the volume the following week. I have much more control when my training is consistent.”

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