It was announced today that Tor Arne Hetland is retiring from competitive skiing and a long and illustrious career. Hetland was one of the first sprinting stars of cross country skiing after is was introduced during the 1999 World Cup season. The 35 year old veteran of the circuit decided to hang up the skis after ending the season this past season early to have knee surgery to remove cartilage on the back of his left
knee. He cites on of the reasons to retire as he wanted to go out while still on top.
This season Hetland was a very impressive third overall in the World Cup Sprint rankings. There is already talk that Hetland will stay with the Norwegian squad, but hold the roll as mentor to the women’s sprint team in an attempt to replicate the dominance that has been shown by their male counterparts.
I’m very surprised with his decision, with the Olympics only 10 months away I thought Hetland would’ve retired next year. It would’ve been great to see another Zorzi/Hetland show down on North American soil one last time. It must of been a tough decision whether to continue training or to call it quits. I have a strong feeling that his rehabilitation after knee surgery had a large influence on his decision.
In other news, France has named their male and female 2009-2010 national teams. They can be found here. Also, it appears that Arild Monsen will be the new sprint coach for Sweden, not the head trainer as initially thought.
If you’ve ever visited the site before you might notice that the site is totally revamped. The first template that was being used couldn’t encompass what I wanted in this site so I opted to go and change it to make the site a little more practical and aesthetically pleasing. Hope you enjoy it.
Enjoy your weekend.
