Nordic skiing : What about the 2026 Junior and U23 World Championships in Trondheim?
The 2025 Nordic World Ski Championships in Trondheim (Norway) are a financial failure, with accounts showing a deficit and creditors having to be repaid. A major event could suffer the worst consequences: next winter, Trondheim (Norway) will host the world junior and U23 Nordic skiing championships.
The Norwegian Ski Association and the municipality of Trondheim are committed to organising this event in accordance with the organising contract between the Norwegians and the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS). However, the deficit from this year’s World Championships has meant that the funds earmarked for next season’s competitions in Granåsen (Norway) have disappeared.
“The World Cup was expected to receive funding of around NOK 1.5 million out of a budget of around NOK 12 million, and we are now trying to determine whether we can find additional funding or make further cuts to an already very tight and modest budget,” revealed Terje Lund, Head of Events at the Norwegian Association to Nettavisen.
After the announcement of the deficit of the World Championships, the owners of the organising company (the Norwegian Federation, the municipality of Trondheim and the Sør-Trøndelag ski area) risk further losses with a new major event.The Junior and U23 World Championships will be organised by Granåsen Aktivum and Norway Event. Granåsen Aktivum chairman Gørill Gyllan told Nettavisen that planning is currently proceeding normally, despite the events.
” We are working in the knowledge that they will be organised. It’s too early to predict the consequences for the junior and U23 world championships, because we don’t know the figures, but it’s natural to assume that the start-up capital will be limited. I’m not going to speculate on the future. Granåsen is here, so we don’t have to build anything new. Wondering whether this event will have a reduced budget is like reading into a crystal ball. We will do our utmost to maintain it as planned. We’ve had no indication that the event will be cancelled. It’s an obligation on the part of the Federation and the municipality of Trondheim,” said Gørill Gyllan.
Neither Terje Lund nor Gørill Gyllan believe that the conclusions will affect the municipality’s contribution to the Junior and U23 World Championships, claiming that there is a good climate of cooperation between the parties.
” We are well on the way to negotiating with the municipality. They are obviously aware of this difficult situation and are surprised, saddened and shocked. It is natural that there will be consequences, but it is in everyone’s interest that this should not jeopardise the Junior and U23 World Championships,” said Gørill Gyllan, who is also a member of the board of directors of the Sør-Trøndelag ski circuit, which owns 10% of the company that organises the Trondheim World Championships.
Read also
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- Nordic skiing: the Norwegian Ski Federation calls for a full audit to analyse the financial deficit of the Trondheim World Championships
- Nordic skiing: Trondheim Worlds a popular success but a financial disaster?
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Charles N. Ek
13/06/2025 at 15 h 49 min
I would not be as optimistic as this article indicates. The Norwegian Ski Federation just announced budget cuts of NOK 27.1 million, accompanied by this statement from its general secretary:
“ – De kuttene på 27,1 millioner kroner de vil inkludere nedbemanning. De vil inkludere endringer i arrangementsporteføljen vår. Det kan bety at vi ikke gjennomfører arrangementer som er veldig kostbare for oss å gjennomføre. Utover det så er det generelle kutt og besparelser, sier generalsekretær i Norges Skiforbund, Ola Keul til NRK.”
“The NOK 27.1 million in cuts will include staff reductions. They will include changes in our event portfolio. It may mean that we will not conduct events that are very expensive for us to conduct. There are also general cuts and savings,” says Ola Keul, General Secretary of the Norwegian Ski Federation, to the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation.
https://www.nrk.no/sport/skiforbundet-ma-nedbemanne-etter-vm-smellen-_-varsler-kutt-pa-27-millioner-1.17454002