Sturla Lægreid moves up to the elite team, while five men and four women from Team Madshus make up nearly half of the Norwegian development teams.
After a monumental season, Sturla Lægreid was named to the elite squad in the Norwegian national team for the 2020-21 season.
The 23-year-old was always a bullet on the trails, but after cleaning up his act at the range, Lægreid climbed to the top of the podium at the IBU Cup and posting a top-10 performance in his second World Cup.
“It’s surreal to me. I came from being list filler to the Norwegian elite team pretty much overnight,” Lægreid said after being named to the elite team on Monday.
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After a silver medal and two top-5 finishes from the European Championships in Minsk (BLR) in March, Lægreid debuted at the IBU World Cup in Nove Mesto (CZE) on Friday the 13th of March, fittingly finishing the sprint event in 13th place after shooting clean at the range. Then, he was 15th in the following mass start.
The next weekend, Lægreid was 10th in the sprint and 11th in the pursuit races at the World Cup races in Kontiolahti (FIN), which were the last events this winter. He nailed 59 of the 60 targets in the challenging conditions, and royally impressed the national team coaches.
“I cannot recall similar precision from a rookie,” says Norway’s biathlon coach Siegfried Mazet, who previously coached the legendary Martin Fourcade.
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Additionally, Madshus racers made up half of the development team squads: Jørgen Solhaug Sæter, Vetle Rype Paulsen and Fredrik Arne Grusd were named to the men’s U23 team, while Juni Arnekleiv, Jenny Enodd and Åsne Skrede are part of the women’s development team. Furthermore, Sivert Bakken and Vebjørn Sørum were named to the development team, while Maren Bakken will race with the U23 women’s team.
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