Tour talk with Norway’s Loeseth sisters

By Published On: December 12th, 2007Comments Off on Tour talk with Norway’s Loeseth sisters

There are a number of brother-sister duos competing on the World Cup, but there are only a couple sisters competing at the highest level and those include Norway’s Loeseth sisters.
ASPEN, Colo. — There are a number of brother-sister duos competing on the World Cup, but there are only a couple sisters competing at the highest level and those include Norway’s Loeseth sisters.
    Chatting with the tech specialists — 18-year-old Nina and the 21-year-old Lene — is easy. They are personable and likeable and like to ski — which is pronounced “shee” in Norwegian. Ski Racing caught up with them in Ruthie’s warming hut prior to their World Cup slalom race on Sunday.
    The two grew up on the west coast of Norway about two hours from their ski hill. Nina has had a more successful run on the World Cup than her older sister. At 18, she is certainly an up-and-comer. She’s already ranked 40th in the 2007-08 overall standings, and she only does tech events. Lene, who said she’s had a tough four years on the tour, hasn’t posted points this season due to DNFs or DNQs. She didn’t make the second run in Aspen, but Nina did and finished 23rd. Though it’s tough for Lene to see her sister competing at the level she knows she is capable of, she nonetheless likes having her sister tag along on tour with her.
    “It’s fun,” she said, laughing.
    In fact, Lene likes to laugh. One time in high school she got kicked out of class for laughing with her best friend Grete Eliassen, who freeride fans may know as one of the best park skiers in the world.
    For Nina, skiing alongside her sister is just normal. “I don’t think we think about it,” she said. “Other people think about it more than we do. It’s just normal for us since we grew up together and skied together.”
     They have two younger ski racing sisters who may end up on the national team too — well, maybe.
    “The one that’s 16, she’s pretty good,” Nina said. “The other one [11] isn’t all grown up yet, so she is skinny and small. It’s going to take some time.”
    Lene and Nina plan to move to Innsbruck, Austria, this winter to improve their alpine racing. They particularly will like it in the summer because it won’t be raining (typical where they live in Norway). And they plan to stay a while.
    “For the rest of our lives,” said Nina confidently, “so we can just work on training. First of all it’s warmer there in the summer so we can do some tanning and go skiing.”
    “That’s the plan,” Lene added.
    So keep an eye out for these Norge-turned-Austrian racers. They may pick up a few racing tidbits while living in the alpine ski racing capital of the world.

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About the Author: Pete Rugh