Cross-country skiing: “I choose to follow my heart and what’s best for me”, says Helene Marie Fossesholm
She had a brilliant summer in 2025, winning the sprint and mass-start skate at Blinkfestival and then the heat mass-start at Toppidrettsveka, but Norway’s Helene Marie Fossesholm has decided to call time on her career. On Monday, the 24-year-old cross-country skier announced her decision on her Instagram account.
“I have some sad news to tell you. I’ve decided to stop,” she writes soberly. Over the last few months, my motivation has had its ups and downs, and unfortunately it’s the downs that have been the most striking. I always hoped that this feeling would be temporary, but it wasn’t. I felt a stronger desire to stop. I felt a stronger desire for something else,” she wrote on Instagram.
The young Scandinavian explains that she went through a period of mental fatigue and lost the meaning of her investment in sport.
“I’ve always been someone who dedicates myself fully to what I do. If my motivation is gone, I can’t carry on. Well-being and joy have always been the most important things. I think that’s the basis of success, at least for me”, she confides.
Helene Marie Fossesholm is not only leaving the circuit, but is also turning a new page in her life by starting to study medicine. “Life isn’t just about top-level sport, and I’m lucky enough to have another dream. After Christmas, I’m going to start studying medicine. It will be a different life, but I can’t wait,” she writes.
” It was great! Now I’m looking forward to living the ‘ordinary’ life.“Helene Marie Fossesholm on Instagram
The gold medallist in the relay at the 2021 World Championships inOberstdorf (Germany) concludes: “Cross-country skiing has given me a lot. I’ve lived my dream thanks to this sport, but now there’s another dream waiting for me. […] Thank you to everyone who has supported me, my family, my friends, my partners and especially my father, who has been my coach for most of my life. I just want to say that I’m doing really well […] I’m choosing to follow my heart and what’s best for me. […] Thank you, that was great! Now I’m looking forward to living the ‘ordinary’ life.“
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