Norwegian World Champion Maria Tviberg bids farewell

GEPA pictures

Norwegian ski racer Maria Therese Tviberg announced her retirement on Thursday, September 12th, after successfully rehabilitating her fifth knee injury. After months of careful deliberation, she bids farewell to her teammates and friends on the Norwegian women’s national team and the prospect of future championship and World Cup successes. The fear of long-term consequences if she sustains a possible sixth knee injury weighs heavily in her decision.

Historic

Tviberg set a milestone in Norwegian alpine skiing history when she won the 2023 World Championship gold medal in the women’s individual parallel event. The victory was the first World Championship gold for a Norwegian alpine woman since Inger Bjørnbakken won the slalom title in 1958.

Additionally, Tviberg won the silver medal in the 2023 World Championship and the bronze medal in the 2022 Olympic team parallel competition.

She recorded 14 top-10 World Cup results during her career, seven in slalom and one victory in the 2023 World Cup Final team parallel competition. She has 85 World Cup starts since her debut in January 2015, as well as 10 World Championship starts and three Olympic starts.

From Speed to Technical Racer

The now 30-year-old retired racer began her World Cup career as a speed racer, competing in downhill, super-G and alpine combined events. From 2015 to 2017, Tviberg consistently recorded top-30 World Cup results in the speed events, after her impressive debut, finishing 16th in a January 2015 World Cup downhill in St. Moritz, Switzerland.

In 2019, Tviberg switched from speed to technical events in the World Cup due to previous injuries. The hard-working and talented skier continued to impress by recording top-10 results and consistently placing in the top 30 when not injured. Notably, she recorded her best results in recent years.

Stalled by Injuries

Tviberg’s ski racing career has been interrupted by many severe injuries, surgeries, and lengthy rehabilitation periods. She suffered two cruciate ligament injuries in each knee during her competitive years before winning the 2023 World Championships.

About ten months after her Championship gold, she suffered season-ending injuries in the November 2023 World Cup giant slalom in Killington, USA: one knee fracture and one in the tibia, two large bone bruises, and a damaged meniscus.

After this fifth knee injury, Tviberg focused entirely on rehabilitation, as she did not want to decide at that time whether or not to return to World Cup ski racing.

No More

Today’s retirement announcement came after a long thought process. According to an interview published by Norwegian broadcaster NRK.no on September 12, Tviberg says the fear of becoming injured again has grown too great, and with the serious consequences following a possible future knee injury, she cannot defend a choice to continue ski racing.

After tearing cruciate ligaments at ages 16, 18, 21 and 24 years old in addition to last November’s injuries at age 29, Tviberg tells NRK she has “used up” the possibilities to reconstruct her ligaments without having to take the next step of using donor parts. She does not wish to head down that path.

“The consequence is simply too great. I felt that this is where it stops for me. As long as I have been able to help myself, it has been okay, but now that chance has been used up,” Tviberg explains to NRK.

The Move to the Mountains

Tviberg grew up in the coastal town of Bergen in Western Norway, where there is little snow. According to Norwegian TV2.no, she also lived in Manchester and London, England, as a young girl while her father worked there.

After returning to Bergen and Tviberg trying alpine skiing, her family decided to move with Maria, age 14, and her 12-year-old sister to the mountain town Geilo and its extensive ski area “because I thought it was awesome to go skiing” Tviberg says in a tribute film released on social media by the Norwegian Ski Federation on September 12th.

In Geilo, Tviberg found great training opportunities with the local ski club on the hills surrounding the small, rural town.

Grateful and Proud

“Everything I’ve achieved is because of my family,” Tviberg says in the film. She also thanks two long-term sponsors who have followed her since her teenage years. “Without them and my family, none of this would have been possible, and I am immensely grateful.”

Tviberg shares she will miss the girls on the national team and her coaches and continues: “I’m going to miss performing every weekend, that rush.

“I’m proud of my career, I’m proud that I didn’t give up before, and I’m proud that I dared to choose to embark on the next chapter now.”

According to the Norwegian Ski Federation tribute film, Tviberg is anxious and excited about her new future. At the same time, she concludes with a smile:

“But that doesn’t mean saying goodbye isn’t sad.”