2026 was supposed to be the season when Mathilde Myhrvold really broke through.
The sprint specialist from Gjøvik, Norway, was coming off the strongest early-season stretch of her career. Before the Tour de Ski, she had established herself as one of Norway’s top medal hopes for the Olympics in Milan-Cortina.
Then everything went wrong.
A fall in the sprint on the first day of the Tour de Ski dislocated her shoulder. Her Olympic dream was gone. So was much of her World Cup season.
She appeared calm and collected on the outside. Inside, she had to put the championships, the World Cup and the goals she had worked toward for years on hold.
Now she is back. Her summer training has gone well, the 2027 FIS Nordic World Championships in Falun are the big goal, and the plan is largely the same as it was before.
But one thing is different.
“I’ve become more nervous,” Mathilde Myhrvold says.
What went through your mind when you realized you were injured?
“Initially, it just hurt incredibly badly. The only thing I could think about right then was getting my shoulder back in place. But on the way to the hospital, I realized I was in for a long and tough road back to racing.”
When did you realize the Olympics were no longer possible?
“At first, I was sort of hopeful. Then I went back and forth, depending on how realistic it seemed. But when I didn’t make it back in time for the final World Cup weekend before the Olympics, I realized it wasn’t going to happen.”
The worst possible time to get hurt
After the injury in Toblach on December 28, it was almost two months before Myhrvold was back at the starting line. That came at the Scandinavian Cup in Åsen in late February, one day before the Olympic flame went out in Italy.
But Myhrvold wasn’t bitter about missing the championships. She was already working on Plan B.
“It would have been really sad if my last race of the season had been on December 28. That would have made for a very short season. So early on, I set a goal of racing some of the World Cup events after the Olympics,” she says.
While eager to return, Myhrvold knew she had to be patient during her recovery and rebuild properly after the injury.
“I trained as much as I could using other forms of exercise during the period when I couldn’t use my arm. Eventually, I was able to ski easy again, but I had to take it step by step before I could push hard. Then I raced once in the Scandinavian Cup before I was ready to return to the World Cup,” Myhrvold says.
A comeback with a statement
Exactly two months after the crash in Toblach, Myhrvold made her World Cup comeback in Falun on February 28.
From there, things moved quickly.
One week later, she reached the final of the World Cup sprint in Lahti. Then came a Norwegian national championship gold medal in the 5-kilometer race at Lygna.
What did the national title and your World Cup comeback mean to you?
“The goal was simply to get in a few races at the end of the season, mainly with the next season in mind. But of course, it was great to have a good result in Lahti. And it was fun to finish the season with the second part of the national championships and race some distance events, not just sprints.”
What did those results at the end of the season mean for your motivation and your mindset?
“It’s nice to take a good feeling with you into a new training season.”
What is your goal this winter?
“The World Championships in Falun are the main goal. Summer training has gone well, and I hope that continues into the fall. This year’s training plan is based a lot on what I did last year.”
The crash during the Tour de Ski was the second time Mathilde Myhrvold had seriously dislocated her shoulder. She had also been set back by injury problems ahead of the 2025 World Championships after a fall in the sprint at the Blink Festival in August 2024.
Do you worry about it happening again?
“My shoulder is working well now, and I can train normally. The only thing is that I’m a little more afraid of accidents and of it happening again.”