Therese Johaug Update: Retirement, Rest, and Family

According to stories released today by the Associated Press, Norwegian cross-country skiing legend, Therese Johaug, has announced her retirement. Only a day after FasterSkier postulated whether or not Johaug was still considering another run at the Olympic Games (which would’ve been her fourth Olympics), she took a new direction—announcing that she wants to be fully devoted to her young family—and stepped out from under one of the brightest Nordic skiing spotlights that the sport has ever known.

Johaug is an athlete who reinvented her sport—not unlike Dick Fosbury who re-crafted the technique of high jump, or Bob Beamon whose outlandish world record in the Olympic long jump in Mexico City set a standard that lasted for generations. Johaug’s signature technique was a counter-example to the slow-and-powerful technique of cross-country skiers who went before her. Her staccato tempo, her relentless racing drive, and her apparent resistance to “pacing” herself set a standard for those who came after her: particularly Jessie Diggins and Frida Karlsson, two of the modern skiers who now dominate World Cup and World Championship racing. Johaug’s racing was flat out, full speed, catch-me-if-you-can. And for years there was no one who could even come close. She is immortalized through Olympic Gold, through World Cup Crystal, through Tour de Ski triumphs, and through World Championship excellence. And our sport is not likely to see another one like her.

FasterSkier is happy to thank Therese Johaug for her loyalty to our sport, and her devotion to skiing excellence. When the 2025-2026 season gets started, it will be just a little bit less of a stellar show for the absence of one star in particular: Therese Johaug.