Former UAA skier and APU ski coach Frode Lillefjell was selected as the Coach of the year in Norway. He received the honors from the Norwegian Ski Federation/Norwegian Coaches associations. The award was handed out at the annual Coaching seminar hosted by the Coaches Association last weekend in Trondheim.
Lillefjell has coached Team Trøndelag the past two seasons, an elite racing squad in the Trondheim area of Norway. The team includes Ole Marius Bach, Petter Eliassen, Marte Elden, Astrid Slind and Karianne Bjellånes among others. The group had numerous World Cup starts this year.
Lillefjell will not be returning as coach of Team Trøndelag after fulfilling his two year commitment.
The 41-year-old Lillefjell was a three-time All-American at UAA, winning a NCAA National Title in the 1997 10km classic. He went on to coach at APU, and in his last racing performance on American soil in 2008, he finished an impressive 3rd in the 50km classic at US Distance Nationals.
In a 2008 interview with FasterSkier, US Olympian James Southam, coached by Lillefjell at APU, credits the Norwegian as being “the one who really taught me how to race and got me to believe that I could ski with the Euros.”
Lillefjell coached at APU from 1999-2008 working with many top US athletes including Southam and Kikkan Randall.
