- Thomas Alsgaard
Thomas Alsgaard (born
10 January 1972 ) is a Norwegian former cross-country skier. He comes fromFlateby inEnebakk .He won his first gold medal in an international championship in the 30 km race at the
1994 Winter Olympics inLillehammer , Norway. He won gold medals in the Men's 10 km + 15 km combined pursuit and the 4 x 10 km at the1998 Winter Olympics . In the2002 Winter Olympics , Alsgaard was part of the gold medal winning men's 4 × 10 km cross country team. He also won gold in the men's 10 km + 10 km combined pursuit though he finished behindJohann Mühlegg in the race (tied withFrode Estil ). He would share the gold medal with Estil when the IOC disqualified Mühlegg in February 2004.Alsgaard also found success at the
FIS Nordic World Ski Championships , winning a total of nine medals. This included six golds (10 km + 15 km combined pursuit: 1999, 30 km: 2003, and 4 x 10 km: 1995, 1997, 2001, 2003), two silvers (30 km: 1999, 4 x 10 km: 1999), and one bronze (30 km: 1997). Additionally, he won twice at theHolmenkollen ski festival with wins in the sprint event in 2001 and the 50 km event in 2002.He won the
Holmenkollen medal in 2001 (shared withAdam Malysz andBente Skari ).Early life
Thomas Alsgaard began cross country ski racing at the age of three. That was when he was entered into a race against many 5-year olds. He beat all of them.
A year later, it was rumored that he was lost in the village the family lived in. In fact, he was found at the local ski area, just about to start his third time around a 9-kilometer loop.
Alsgaard says that his passion for skiing comes from liking to be outdoors.
Retirement
Alsgaard retired from Nordic racing in 2003. He now works as a technical advisor for
Alpina Sports , working in the Nordic boot department. He used to ski on Madshus skis, one of Alpina's partners, with Adidas boots and Salomon bindings.References
*FIS|S=CC|ID=856
* [http://www.skiforeningen.no/holmenkollen/holmenkollen_historikk Holmenkollen medalists] - click Holmenkollmedaljen for downloadable pdf file no icon
* [http://www.skiforeningen.no/holmenkollen/holmenkollen_historikk Holmenkollen winners since 1892] - click Vinnere for downloadable pdf file no icon
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