Big emotions in Trondheim: Norway's huge World Cup party sends big heroes into retirement

The Nordic World Ski Championships are taking place in Trondheim for the second time. In 1997, Norway celebrated a huge party - now it will be the end for two great heroes. The curtain falls on the big stage for Therese Johaug and Jarl Magnus Riiber.

Many things come together in Trondheim. Mountains meet sea, northern lights meet almost Mediterranean flair, winter meets summer. Björn Wirkola, for example, one of Norway's greatest ski jumping heroes, switched to the attack here after his ski jumping career, won the football double with Rosenborg and scored a goal in the 1972 European Cup against Celtic Glasgow - nine months after his last daily victory in the Four Hills Tournament.

When the Nordic World Ski Championships open on Wednesday at the Trondheim Fjord, there will be a mood of departure and farewell. Norway is excitedly looking forward to its first big cross-country skiing and ski jumping festival in 14 years. And it has to say goodbye to the next national heroes: biathlon aces Johannes Thingnes and Tarjei Bö have just competed in their last World Championships, and now the curtain is falling on Therese Johaug and Jarl Magnus Riiber on the big stage.

"Now I might want to have a second child"

"I feel that Trondheim will be the end for me," says cross-country skiing princess Johaug. Like Nordic combined skier Riiber - the record world champion is retiring for health reasons - she will retire a year before the Olympics. Again: Johaug had already retired after the Beijing Winter Games, having become a mother: "Now I might want to have a second child."

For Johaug, things are coming full circle. In 2011, the now 36-year-old won her first major individual gold medal over 30 km at the home World Championships in Oslo, and now she wants to win a final one at home - in a premiere: "Becoming the first world champion over 50 km is a dream of mine." And it will come true in front of a fantastic backdrop. "This will be the biggest festival of the decade in Norway. People will be talking about it for another 30 years," promises OC head Aage Skinstad ahead of the most extensive World Championships in history: 25 decisions - plus two in para-cross-country skiing for the first time - are scheduled until March 9th.

More than just "Lillehammer light"

When the World Festival of Nordic Winter Sports took place in Trondheim for the first and so far only time in 1997, there were 15 competitions, and women only competed in cross-country skiing. Norway's third-largest city fought for a long time to host a repeat of the World Cup. Trondheim lost in 2021 (against Oberstdorf) and 2023 (against Planica), but then it worked out for 2025 - without any opposition.

Trondheim now wants to show that it is on a par with Norway's other two Nordic centres: Oslo with the famous Holmenkollen, which most recently hosted the World Cup in 2011, and Lillehammer, the Olympic venue for the legendary 1994 Winter Games. On a par with 1997, when Trondheim was more than "Lillehammer light".

"I fell in love with the place," said the Japanese Masahiko Harada, who won ski jumping gold from the large hill at the time. Ahead of Dieter Thoma - one of only two German medals. Trondheim 1997 is considered by many to be the most atmospheric World Championships in history. The cross-country ski runs were a sea of ​​people in red, blue and white, 40,000 people celebrated Norway's cross-country skiing hero Björn Dählie after each of his three World Championship titles on the main square, Torget.

Russian cross-country skier Jelena Wälbe won five gold medals in five starts - and was turned away at the Bajazzo nightclub in the city center. "It's full," the bouncer is said to have said. "Nobody can come in here anymore - no matter how many gold medals they have." A lot of things come together in Trondheim. The past also meets the future: Wälbe is now president of Russia's banned ski association. And 28 years later, she remains out again.