With Peder Kongshaug (21), Sander Eitrem (20) and Sigurd Henriksen (18), host country Norway has a very young men’s team at the European Allround Championships in Hamar this weekend. Can this talented generation ensure that Norwegian skating becomes as popular as it was in the last century?
Eitrem is sitting in a bare conference room at the Hamar athletes’ hotel two days before the start of the European Allround Championships. He gives short, thoughtful answers to most questions. Until it comes to his ambitions.
“It would be great if I could copy Sven Kramer’s performance. Yes, I know I am raising the bar, because he is the best skater of all time,” says the 20-year-old Norwegian with a smile. “But Sven is a huge inspiration to me.”
Kramer retired last March, but on Eitrem’s phone and laptop, the 30-time world champion is far from a former figure skater. “I watch a video of Sven almost every day. I think I’ve seen his 5km in Calgary (6.03.32 in 2007, still Dutch record, ed.) dozens of times. His skating is so impressive especially in the curves, I try to learn as much as possible from him.”
Eitrem is lucky that his coach, Dutch-Norwegian Bjarne Rykje, worked with Kramer between 2014 and 2018. “I always think it’s cool when Bjarne tells stories about Sven. I think we’re quite similar as skaters. I hope I can be on top for a long time like him.”
Junior Henriksen is vervanger van Engebraten
Het was eigenlijk de bedoeling dat Hallgeir Engebraten (23) de Noorse kopman zou zijn bij het EK allround. Maar de nummer drie van de olympische 5 kilometer in 2022 heeft zich moeten afmelden vanwege inspanningsastma. Zijn vervanger is Sigurd Henriksen. Het achttienjarige toptalent reed deze winter al drie wereldrecords voor junioren. “Sigurd komt als een komeet”, zegt bondscoach Bjarne Rykkje. “We hebben nog geen idee wat zijn limiet is.”
Norway has long dominated men’s skating
Long before Kramer broke any records, the Norwegians were dominant in men’s skating. The Scandinavian country still leads the all-time rankings at the European Allround Championships with 38 gold medals and 112 podium finishes. The Netherlands follows with 36 titles and 92 medals for men.
Almost all of those Norwegian hits date back to the last century. Legends Oscar Mathisen (gold in 1909, 1912 and 1914) and Ivar Ballangrud (gold in 1929, 1930, 1933 and 1936) set the tone. In the 1970s, the so-called “four S” ensured the heyday of skating in Norway. Jan Egil Storholt, Kay Arne Stenshjemmet, Sten Stensen and Amund Sjøbrend shared six of seven European all-around titles between 1975 and 1981. After that there was only gold at the European Championships for Johann Olav Koss (1991).
“Skating was the biggest winter sport in Norway in the 60s and 70s,” says Rykkje, who became national coach in his native country after the 2018 Olympics. “I think the interest is still dormant, but he hasn’t been stimulated enough. That requires gold at the World Cup or at the Games. And not once, but four times in a row.”
In recent years, there has been a small increase in attention for Norwegian skating, for example after Havard Lorentzen’s 500m Olympic title in 2018. But the occasional success is not enough in the country which has topped the medal table in 2018 and 2022. he captained the Winter Games. Norway is structurally the best in cross-country skiing, biathlon and Nordic combined.
“We are currently in the media a little more often, because we no longer depend on a top player to get good results. But due to the great competition from other winter sports, I don’t see any more attention for skating among the Norwegian public,” he says Rykkje. “It is certainly possible that the new generation could change that. But for that we need winners, not skaters who finish second or third.”
Wiklund kan voor Noorse primeur zorgen
Bij de vrouwen was er nog nooit een Noorse medaille op een EK allround, ook doordat de schaatssters pas sinds 1970 een Europees kampioenschap hebben. Ragne Wiklund heeft een goede kans om dit weekend in Hamar voor een primeur te zorgen. De wereldkampioene op de 1.500 meter van 2021 is op voorhand een van de grootste concurrenten van favoriete Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong.
Eitrem wants to make Norwegian skating great again
To her surprise, Rykje read an article by TV2 that skating is the only Norwegian winter sport that has seen significant growth in entry numbers in recent years. “It was new to me, although I also hear stories of frozen lakes in Lillehammer or Oslo, often full of skaters in winter,” says the national coach. “Everything shows that the potential is there.”
That potential has by no means been exploited enough, because too few young skaters have received proper guidance. There are now two well-organized training venues for talent from the age of fourteen, in Stavanger (led by Dutchman Wouter olde Heuvel) and in Hamar. Rykkje: “You could say we are seeing the first results.”
Last month in Calgary, for the first time since 1986, five Norwegian men were in the top twenty of the 1,500m and 5,000m at a World Cup weekend. More importantly, this winter the talents have shown that they are already very close to the top. For example, Eitrem finished second in the 5km at the World Championships in Heerenveen in mid-November, with a personal best of 6:08.24.
“I definitely didn’t expect to be able to ride for so long this season,” says Eitrem. “I think it helps to be in a team with a lot of young guys. We give our all in every training session, which is very nice. I hope we can make Norwegian skating great again, like when Koss was the sport dominated.”
