Heidi Weng represents an entire era in Norwegian traditional cross-country skiing history. After more than 15 years on the national team, the 32-year-old is still motivated, and now the preparations for the World Championships season are starting.

On Wednesday, April 24, the Norwegian Ski Association presented the elite national cross-country team for 2024/25. For the coming season, the national team management has selected eleven men and nine women, including Heidi Weng. 

Read More: Norwegian national cross-country skiing team for the season 2024/2025

While “everyone” gathered around Johannes Høsflot Klæbo and Kristine Stavås Skistad, the national team veteran took the time to talk to Langrenn.com about her time on the national team, which in itself represents an entire era in Norwegian cross-country skiing history, about the people who have helped shape Weng’s career, about the ups and downs, and about the road ahead. 

Weng is clear that her career won’t last forever, either. 

“I thought it was all over two years ago,” she says, explaining that this was a turning point. 

“Two years ago, I didn’t think I would make it back, to be honest. But then I managed to get two podiums (in the World Cup). That’s when I realized I can’t have a year with such bad training again. I just can’t. It was a turning point, and things took off last summer. Now I’m one step ahead of that this year, too.”

But she wants to wait to set a date for exactly when she will stop. 

“Right now, everything is going really well,” Weng tells Langrenn.com and continues: 

“I’m very happy. I had a better training year than I’ve had in a long time, and the results (last winter) also show that. I’ve had some time off and am ready for a new season. I’ve tried to spend time with people other than those I see most during the season.”

Weng has admittedly tested her form a little already. 

“I had my first interval last Sunday, the first since the national championships (before Easter). But that’s not necessarily good either.”

Also Read – The coaches about Heidi Weng: “She must train well, like a real top athlete”

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Fifteen years at the top of the world

Heidi Weng joined the Norwegian elite national team ahead of the 2012/13 season and is about to start her 13th season there. Before that, she spent one year on the national recruit team and two years on the national junior team, giving her more than 15 years of national team experience. 

“I joined in the 2009 season and broke through in the 2011/12 season. It was after that that I joined the elite national team,” recalls Weng, and adds: 

“When you’ve been with the Norwegian Ski Association for over 15 years, you’ve been around for a while.”

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Enormous career

So far, the skier has more than 15 years behind her on the national team and thus represents an entire era in Norwegian cross-country skiing history. 

Heidi Weng has competed in 297 World Cup races, been on the podium in 112, and won 13. In the 2023/24 season, she was on the podium seven times, first at the World Cup round in Östersund in December and most recently at the World Cup final in Falun in March, also finishing in second place at the Tour de Ski.

She has five World Championships gold medals, all in the relay, from five championships: Val di Fiemme 2013, Falun 2015, Lahti 2017, Seefeld 2019, and Oberstdorf 2021 (she was selected for the 2023 World Championships in Planica but had to return home due to illness). In total, she has nine World Championships medals.

She also has a bronze medal from the 2014 Olympics in Sochi (skiathlon) and participated in the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang. Ahead of the 2022 Olympics, she contracted Covid and could not compete despite being selected. 

Weng became ill with Covid in 2022 and was sidelined by the disease for several weeks. She wasn’t ready to compete again until part 2 of the Norwegian national championships, but she fell on the ice on her way to training just before the championships. She then suffered a concussion that she struggled with for almost two years and still must deal with. 

But since the season opener at Beitostølen last November, Weng has been on a crescent.

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The level of the World Cup is constantly evolving. How do you rise and stay at the top year after year?

I’ve been fortunate all the way, both when I joined the national team and the people in the team.

Weng attributes her success to the other athletes as well. This applies to both sporting and social aspects. 

I’ve been on good teams ever since I was a junior. I’ve been lucky with the people I’ve been on teams with, both on the junior and recruit teams and afterward. I also attended an altitude gathering with the recruit team one year when I was still a junior. I followed the group a year older than me when I joined the junior team. But I miss the boys’ and girls’ environment on the same team we had during those three years. I think that was very positive,” says Weng to Langrenn.com. 

And you got to experience the time when Marit Bjørgen and Therese Johaug were on the team?   

“Yes, but also the slightly older guys, like Eldar Rønning and Petter Northug. But I’ve never been on a team with Oddbjørn Hjelmseth. I didn’t manage to get in that early,” says Weng with a laugh. 

What are the most important things Bjørgen and Johaug added to the team during your time with them? 

“I don’t think I just want to praise them because I think everyone has their role. Everyone is different, and that’s good. It wouldn’t have worked if everyone was the same. Everyone had strengths in that team (with Marit Bjørgen and Therese Johaug). Many were good at skiing, and many were good at both short and long distances. For example, in the World Championships before Oslo (in 2011), our women’s team wasn’t that great. I don’t know if it was someone who figured out how to train or not and who it was. But when you get more people involved, it builds the whole team. There are more performers and more people around,” says Weng, adding that coaching changes also affect the team.

“When a coach leaves, you have to rebuild the team in many ways.”

Weng emphasizes that new stimuli and challenges are important to constantly develop and raise the level of both individuals and the team.

“Every year has been a new experience for me. When I first joined the team in the first year, I thought, “Wow, are we going to train that much?” I wasn’t used to that, anyway. But then it became a matter of habit, and it suddenly became fun to train a lot.”

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The social aspect 

For Weng, however, the most important people on the team are the people who have been on the team during her career. She cherishes those friendships. 

“I’m still in contact with most of them. I had Astrid (Uhrenholdt Jacobsen) and Marthe Kristoffersen over for lunch. And suddenly I can call Astrid and talk for two hours. It’s nice to have that contact still,” says Weng. 

“I have a lot of contact with Maiken, Therese, Ingvild, and Celine Brun-Lie, and she retired after the World Championships in 2015. It’s been a while, but I don’t feel like it’s that long ago. It’s been eight years, no, almost ten years. It’s completely crazy.” 

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What do you remember best from your career so far?

“Perhaps my best memory is my first championship (World Championships 2013 in Val di Fiemme). It was the first time I got to race for Norway in a relay. I did the first leg. I was so nervous that I almost started crying ten meters after the start line. That’s perhaps what I remember best. But that applies to the whole social space there (in Val Fiemme). We had Øystein Pettersen, who started a song, I don’t remember which one, and there was dancing and high spirits in the common room just for fun between races. That’s probably what I remember best from any championship. And that was in 2013,” says Heidi Weng, and adds: 

“And I remember well the first time I was on the podium. I remember best what happened in the past because everything was so new. Then it became routine.”

What is the worst memory from your career so far?

“It was in Seiser Alm just before the Olympics when I got Covid and sat there alone. It was a nightmare.”