“Better late than never,” says Helene Marie Fossesholm. The 22-year-old announces she is ready for her season debut at the Norwegian National Championships this week.

Helene Marie Fossesholm is set to race again. The 22-year-old has not competed for over a year. But now she announces that she is ready for a comeback. It will happen during the National Championships at Beitostølen from February 22 to 25.

“The fact that the season-opening at Beitostølen is also happening for me is appropriate. A bit delayed, but better late than never,” Helene Marie Fossesholm tells NRK.

Indeed, the week before the season opening in November at Beitostølen, Fossesholm talked about the problems and why she had to put her career on hold. During the press conference the week after the season-opening, Fossesholm said she hoped to race after the New Year.

Fossesholm had initially planned to make a comeback after her competition break for the Norwegian Cup round at Nes the first weekend of February. She was registered for both distance races: 10 kilometers freestyle and 20 kilometers classic. However, she ended up postponing the comeback due to illness.

Now, Fossesholm announces that she will be starting at the National Championships this week.

A Year Since Last Time

Fossesholm has not raced at the international level since the World Cup in Les Rousses, France, on the last weekend of January last year. Then, she finished 15th in the 10 kilometers freestyle.

After that, she raced in the Norwegian Cup at Åsen on February 19 last year, and since then, she has not competed in any ski races.

Does Not Want to Dwell on What Went Wrong

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

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

The first season was a continuous success, with solid World Cup performances, a World Championship gold in the relay, and top-10 individual placements at the World Championships in Oberstdorf in 2021. Everything was set for her first Olympics to be just as successful.

But that was not the case.

In the run-up to the Olympic season of 2022, Fossesholm experienced a significant setback. She went home from the Olympics before the championship ended and did not race more 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 highlight. Fossesholm barely raced in the World Cup and did not attend the World Championships in Planica.

But Fossesholm does not want to waste time speculating on what she could have done differently to avoid ending up where she was last fall.

“I have stopped being wise after the event. You can always do things differently, but I don’t bother to speculate on that. It gives me nothing,” she says.

15.02.2024 Photo: Ingeborg Scheve/ Langrenn.com