On Tuesday, it became clear that women’s national team coach Stig Rune Kveen is resigning. National team manager Ulf Morten Aune then said that the position will be advertised immediately.
Immediately after it was known that Kveen had finished as coach, speculation began about potential successors. In that context, several candidates have been mentioned.
After a season in which Heidi Weng, in eighth place, was the best Norwegian in the World Cup overall, and all the national team runners were crushed by both Therese Johaug and long-distance specialists in the NM 3-mile, the debate about what steps need to be taken has resumed.
– The Norwegian women’s team is too bad, to put it simply. Whether it is the coaching team or the training that is failing, I don’t know, but something must be addressed in the run-up to the WC next year, says coaching legend Steinar Mundal to Langrenn.com.
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The veteran coach: – It’s too bad, to put it simply
Can divide the coaching position into three
Both Kristine Stavås Skistad and Astrid Øyre Slind, second best and third best overall of the Norwegians in the World Cup this season, are wanted in the national team and in dialogue with the association about it.
In connection with the NM three-mile, Øyre Slind was clear that she is reluctant to leave her coach Chris Jespersen and the system she has in Team Aker Dæhlie.
Similarly, Skistad told Langrenn.com after the NM three-mile that she is not breaking up with her personal trainer and coach Lage Sofienlund.
Former national team coach Steinar Mundal tells Langrenn.com that what can get Skistad to go to the national team, is that Sofienlund becomes a coach there.
Cross-country expert Petter Skinstad is therefore launching a model where the coaching position of Stig Rune Kveen is shared between coaching legend Pål Gunnar Mikkelsplass, Lage Sofienlund and Chris Jespersen. On X (formerly Twitter), Skinstad writes:
Burning for Konnerud
The successful coach behind Kristine Stavås Skistad is not sure that he is the right man for the job. He thinks 150 days of travel will be demanding to combine with family life and two small children, and that he is passionate about the club and the offer locally.
– It is a super exciting job for all trainers with ambitions. But it is a demanding job. I am triggered by the project at Konnerud and really intend to make Konnerud the world’s best ski club, says Sofienlund to VG.
At the same time, he also does not rule out that he may be tempted by the national team job.
– But it would be silly to dismiss a national team coaching job in the national sport as uninteresting, says Sofienlund.
Read also: This is why Kristine Stavå’s Skistad is now successful
The case continues below
Mikkelsplass: – My time has passed a little
Pål Gunnar Mikkelsplass, long-time coach for the national team and technique coach for Therese Johaug and coach for Ingvild Flugstad Østberg in her comeback for the WC season 2023, is also mentioned as relevant. He doesn’t write off the possibility either, but to VG he suggests that a lot needs to be done.
– I think there are better solutions, he says.
– But this is a hugely exciting and fun job, so I am a bit envious of anyone who goes into this against the WC on home soil.
Earlier on Wednesday, it became clear that Therese Johaug is postponing the decision on a possible comeback to the WC. If she chooses to do so, Mikkelsplass will continue as her personal trainer.
Read also: Johaug delays the WC decision
