Solid start to the season

By Inge Scheve

For most, the annual Blink summer ski festival is the first World Cup-level races since the end of March. And with the main race season kicking off in just over three months, the 4-day race weekend in Sandnes (NOR) is a perfect opportunity to gauge whether their training so far is paying off.  

And based on the results from Blink, which took place on July 31 to August 3, Team Madshus is off to a rock-solid start to the season: Ten podiums, including three victories, and a handsome collection top-10 finishes in both biathlon and cross-country. 

At Lysebotn Opp, the infamous 7.5-kilometer uphill race featuring 640 meters of elevation gain and sections of more than 10 percent incline, Helene Marie Fossesholm (NOR) opens her race week with third place. 

As a side note: Swedish turbo junior Alvar Myhlback kicks off his race week by muscling up the brutal hill twice in only a few hours. First, he hauls in to 14th place in the double-pole race. Then, the 18-year-old beelines back down and made it just in time for the skate race on the same course, becoming the first to race both events back-to-back.

The next day, Myhlback follows up with eighth place in the 50-kilometer marathon Blink Classics. 

On Friday, Madshus biathlete Johannes Kühn (GER) secures third place in the shooting duels in Sandnes, while European Champion Vebjørn Sørum snags his first victory in the supersprint. 

Mathilde Myhrvold (NOR) bags her first victory of the season, winning the 10-kilometer mass start, beating Fossesholm in second place by half a second. Then Harald Østberg Amundsen (NOR) finish off the day winning the 15-kilometer mass start. 

And finally, Madshus racers cap off the weekend with four more podiums on Saturday: Myhrvold takes home her second victory in two days after winning the sprint, while Fossesholm earns another second place, Emilien Jacquelin helps France to second place in the biathlon mixed relay where Sturla Holm Lægreid helps Norway to third place. 

In short: It’s looking like Team Madshus is headed for a fab winter, where the 2025 FIS Nordic World Championships in Trondheim (NOR) and the 2025 Biathlon World Championships in Lenzerheide (SUI) are the highlights of the season.