Over the past week, Hafjell hosted all disciplines of the Norwegian National Championships, and the series started off with speed.

With Olympic medalists at the start of the men’s downhill, the title was expected to go to Aksel Lund Svindal or Kjetil Jansrud, but the fastest man on the hill was Adrian Smiseth Sejersted. The young athlete, who almost scored his first World Cup podium this season in the super-G in Kvitfjell, is the new rising star in the strong Norwegian speed team. Another surprise came from Henrik Kristoffersen, who raced in downhill for the first time in four years and managed to claim a 19th place.

On the ladies side, Marte Berg Edseth won the downhill, kicking off a wildly successful series for the European Cup skier. She went on to win the alpine combined and the super-G titles.

Things were less predictable in the men’s races. Rasmus Windingstad, who earned eighth place in the giant slalom in Kranjska Gora this season, earned the national title in alpine combined. He followed it up with a victory in super-G, emerging victorious by only 0.03 seconds ahead of Smiseth Sejersted.

The tech events in Hafjell started with the giant slalom on Saturday. Ragnhild Mowinckel, the two-time Olympic silver medalist who missed the speed races because she was sick, came back to competition and took the national title. Windingstad was the fastest on the men’s side, winning his third title of the 2018 championships.

On the final day, dedicated to slalom, young Norbye Kaja surprised everyone by winning the ladies slalom ahead of World Cup skier and Stockholm winner Nina Haver-Loeseth. Kaja scored a seventh place in the alpine combined and a eighth place in the slalom at the Junior World Championships in Davos this season. There was a similar upset on the men’s side as Kristoffersen, second in the slalom and overall World Cup rankings this season, finished second behind Simen Ramberg Christensen.

With this, all Norwegian Champions have been crowned, and the athletes can now enjoy the offseason.

Official results are available here.

Release from FIS