41 Merete Fjeldavlie had her greatest year in 1992. Foto: NTB/Scanpix
Erik Håker winning his first World Cup race for men, was no surprise. He was early noted as a promising talent, and a great career was predicted for him. Already at the age of 17 he obtained the 10th place in the giant slalom race in the World Championship in Val Gardena (ITA). In the season of 71/72 came the big break through. The first victory was achieved in giant slalom in Val d`Isère (FRA). At the time, Erik was the fastest competitor in both runs of the race. This happened in the Olympic season, and there were great expectations towards the boy from Oppdal prior to the Olympic Winter Games in Sapporo in 1972. And many people may remember what happened. Erik was in the lead
position in giant slalom after the first run, but in the final run the following day things fell apart. After 53 seconds of racing, in the middle of the steepest hill, the Olympic dream came to an end. A whole nation was watching, and for those who haven’t seen the clip from NRK, this is highly recommended. A significant piece of Norwegian alpine history. All together Erik Håker won five World Cup races. He got four wins in giant slalom, while the final one was taken in Val Gardena (ITA) in downhill in 1978. And, as history has shown, Erik was the first Norwegian to win a World Cup race in downhill. Later, many Norwegian alpine skiers have followed up.
MERETE’S ONLY ONE Merete Fjeldavlie had her magnificent year in 1992. The year of the Olympic Games in Albertville, and two years before the games in Lillehammer. Her only victory in the World Cup happened at the edge of the season in her favourite discipline – Super-G. Appropriately, this happened on the International Women’s Day at the 8th of March in Vail, USA. The same year she was number two in the Super-G Cup. The history books will always state her as the first Norwegian girl to win an alpine World Cup race. In a historic perspective, it seems appropriate to draw attention to Ole Kristian Furuseth from Ullensaker. He was the one in lead
when the Norwegian alpine skiers really came through and dominated the World Cup circus. Ole Kristian, with his work ethics and soberness, became an important guideline for the other Norwegian skiers. Following him there are a number of Norwegian stars, and the season of 2015/16 the Norwegian alpine skiers set a new record in number of victories and podiums in the World Cup. New personalities from Norway with a solid determination for winning are popping up continuously. The last one is Henrik Kristoffersen. Maybe he is the one taking over the throne from Ingemar Stenmark? ■
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