Just before the national season opener at Beitostølen in mid-November, Helene Fossesholm announced she had to put her career on hold. A week after the season opener, the 22-year-old held a press conference about her situation, openly sharing that she had been struggling, especially finding the recent autumn challenging. She had lost her joy for skiing and her spark. For long periods, she barely trained.

“The reason I’m taking a break is that I’m recovering from a setback. There are some blows to the face along the way, and I knew that. It’s not a straight path to the top,” said Fossesholm during the November press conference.

The 22-year-old hinted then that she hoped to compete in some ski races after the New Year.

Now, according to Langrenn.com, almost a year after her last ski race, Fossesholm is ready to compete again. This weekend, she is registered for two of the ski races at the Norwegian Cup in Nes: a 10-kilometer freestyle on Saturday, February 3, and a 20-kilometer classic on Sunday, February 4.

“This weekend, I’ll be skiing my first race of the season. It will be really fun to wear a bib number again, gasping for air in the middle of the forest and doing what I love most,” Fossesholm told VG.

A Year Since Last Time

Fossesholm hasn’t competed in international level ski races since the World Cup in Les Rousses, France, last weekend of January last year, where she finished 15th in the 10-kilometer freestyle.

Then she competed in the Norway Cup at Åsen in mid-February, and since then, Fossesholm hasn’t skied in any races.

The schedule for the race weekend at Nes includes a sprint on Friday, a 10-kilometer freestyle on Saturday, and a 20-kilometer classic on Sunday. The Norway Cup this weekend is also the last before the National Championships at Beitostølen at the end of February.

The story continues below.

Doesn’t Dwell on What Went Wrong

During the press conference, Fossesholm said she would take her time, that she doesn’t want to dwell on what went wrong, whether she could have done something differently, or if she was too young for the elite national team when she joined.

Fossesholm was only 18 years old when she joined the elite national team in the spring of 2020.

Her first season was a continuous upturn, with strong performances in the World Cup, a relay gold medal at the World Championships, and top-10 individual placements at the World Championships in Oberstdorf in 2021. Everything seemed set for her first Olympics to be just as successful.

But it didn’t turn out that way.

In the lead-up to the 2022 Olympic season, Fossesholm experienced a major setback. She returned home from the Olympics before the end of the event and didn’t compete in more ski races that season. She took a break from systematic training for many months.

She has struggled to find her form since then, and last season was not a high point either. Fossesholm barely competed in the World Cup and didn’t attend the World Championships in Planica.

But Fossesholm doesn’t want to waste time speculating on what she could have done differently to avoid ending up where she was last autumn.

‘I’ve stopped being wise after the event. You can always do things differently, but I don’t want to speculate on that. It doesn’t give me anything,’ she says.