Norwegian newspaper Adresseavisen reports from the Norwegian national team’s recent test and evaluation week at Hafjell:
Terje Langli, the new national team wax chief has one main goal for the Norwegian national team: – we are going to be feared again.
The Norwegian wax technicians used to have psychological edge over the other nations because they were ahead in the “glide war”. Norway has not been able to keep the spot in the driver’s seat the last years.
– Other nation’s skiers and wax technicians were occasionally psyched out by us in the past because they knew that we were better than them in the wax cabin. We want it to become like that again. We need to be physiologically ahead and is going to be a feared team, says Langli.
Tough start
He has got off a tough start as the team’s new wax chief. Several of the current technicians have announced that they are not going to continue due to internal disagreements.
– I’m not able to say much about what happened this winter but I will make sure that we will have a very good wax team at the start of next season, says Langli
Geir Tufto is in addition to the main stone grinder Olav Stuvseth among those who has expressed strong dissatisfaction with the current wax team situation. He quit his job last Tuesday and said that the majority of the team is unhappy.
– I have experienced the total opposite situation during this weeks test week at Hafjell. We are going to work hard to get the remaining team with us, says chief of sport, Bjornar Hakensmoen
Hiring eight
Terje Langli is coming to the Norwegian national team with a wide specter of experience, also as a racer. He was the 10-kilometer classic World Champion in 1991. He has had a variety of jobs in cross country skiing after he retired as a racer.
The new wax chief is by many regarded as one of the best “test pilots” of skis. He starts his job by hiring eight wax technicians on two-year contracts.
– It’s not a requirement that the current technicians have to remain with the team. They all have one-year contracts that are expiring this summer and they are free to leave after that.
