The traditional Holmenkollen Ski Festival is celebrating its 130th anniversary this year, and with glorious sun and blue skies, the event became a great sports festival.
Crown Prince Haakon was present during the women’s three mile cross country ski competition on March 5th 2022, and the winner, Therese Johaug, was praised for her fantastic sports career that she drew to a close this weekend. On March 6th, the entire Norwegian royal family was present at the festival.
On the same date eleven years after she became world champion for the first time, also in Holmenkollen, Therese Johaug won her penultimate ski race in her long career. Finnish Krista PƤrmƤkoski came in second, and Swedish Jonna Sundling came in third. Both the Crown Prince and the audience congratulated and thanked the Norwegian sports star. After four Olympic golds and fourteen World Cup golds, Johaug is now retiring.
The traditional Holmenkollen Ski Festival was also a celebration of solidarity with Ukraine, and many spectators had Ukrainian flags and colours on them. During the festival, Crown Prince Haakon met volunteers and to them he said: āThis is your year, this year. You are an important part of Norway and sportsā.
The Crown Prince met volunteers who have worked all weekend, and some all week, so that sports stars, the public and other volunteers had the best possible experience at the festival. They told the Crown Prince about their tasks of directing traffic and parking, managing safety so that people do not slip and hit the ice, making sure that races are conducted in a good way and according to the regulations – and how they also look after children’s events. This year, face painting is the biggest task. 2022 is the Year of Volunteering. Every year, five million man-hours are invested in skiing alone in Norway.
The royal family got to experience Norwegian victory both in the men’s five miles cross country skiing, in combined and in the ski jump on Sunday. In the evening, there was a final race for the women in the Raw Air competition in jumping in Holmenkollen. Crown Prince Haakon handed out the winning trophy to Slovenian Nika Kriznar after the overall victory.
King Harald, Queen Sonja and Crown Prince Haakon congratulated Martin LĆøwstrĆøm Nyenget after his victory in the five miles cross country skiing. Princess Ingrid Alexandra and King Harald followed the jumping race for men in Holmenkollen closely together. This was the first time since December 21 that King Harald has attended a public event outside the Royal Palace, much to the delight of the audience. The king has struggled with his health, but is apparently now on the road to recovery.
