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Thomas Alsgaard (born January 10, 1972) is a Norwegian former cross-country skier. He comes from Flateby in Enebakk.
He won his first gold medal in an international championship in the 30 km race at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. He won gold medals in the Men's 10 km + 15 km combined pursuit and the 4 x 10 km at the 1998 Winter Olympics. In the 2002 Winter Olympics, Alsgaard was part of the gold medal winning men's 4 × 10 km cross country team. He also won gold in the men's 10 km + 10 km combined pursuit though he finished behind Johann Mühlegg in the race (tied with Frode Estil). He would share the gold medal with Estil when the IOC disqualified Mühlegg in February 2004.
Alsgaard also found success at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, winning a total of nine medals. This included six golds (10 km + 15 km combined pursuit: 1999, 30 km: 2003, and 4 x 10 km: 1995, 1997, 2001, 2003), two silvers (30 km: 1999, 4 x 10 km: 1999), and one bronze (30 km: 1997). Additionally, he won twice at the Holmenkollen ski festival with wins in the sprint event in 2001 and the 50 km event in 2002.
He won the Holmenkollen medal in 2001 (shared with Adam Malysz and Bente Skari).
[edit] Early life
Thomas Alsgaard began cross country ski racing at the age of three. That was when he was entered into a race against many 5-year olds. He beat all of them.
A year later, it was rumored that he was lost in the village the family lived in. In fact, he was found at the local ski area, just about to start his third time around a 9-kilometer loop.
Alsgaard says that his passion for skiing comes from liking to be outdoors.
[edit] Retirement
Alsgaard retired from Nordic racing in 2003. He now works as a technical advisor for Alpina Sports, working in the Nordic boot department. He used to ski on Madshus skis, one of Alpina's partners, with Adidas boots and Salomon bindings.
[edit] References
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Olympic champions in men's 4 x 10 km cross country relay |
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1936 Finland - Sulo Nurmela, Klaes Karppinen, Matti Lähde, & Kalle Jalkanen * 1948 Sweden - Nils Östensson, Nils Täpp, Gunnar Eriksson, & Martin Lundström * 1952 Finland - Heikki Hasu, Paavo Lonkila, Urpo Korhonen, & Tapio Mäkelä * 1956 Soviet Union - Fyodor Terentyev, Pavel Kolchin, Nikolay Anikin, & Vladimir Kuzin * 1960 Finland - Toimi Alatalo, Eero Mäntyranta, Väinö Huhtala, & Veikko Hakulinen * 1964 Sweden - Karl-Åke Asph, Sixten Jernberg, Janne Stefansson, & Assar Rönnlund * 1968 Norway - Odd Martinsen, Pål Tyldum, Harald Grønningen, & Ole Ellefsæter * 1972 Soviet Union - Vladimir Voronkov, Yuri Skobov, Fyodor Simashev, & Vyacheslav Vedenin * 1976 Finland - Matti Pitkänen, Juha Mieto, Pertti Teurajärvi, & Arto Koivisto * 1980 Soviet Union - Vasily Rochev, Nikolay Bazhukov, Yevgeny Belyayev, & Nikolay Zimyatov * 1984 Sweden - Thomas Wassberg, Benny Tord Kohlberg, Jan Ottosson, & Gunde Svan * 1988 Sweden - Jan Ottosson, Thomas Wassberg, Gunde Svan & Torgny Mogren * 1992 Norway - Terje Langli, Vegard Ulvang, Kristen Skjeldal & Bjørn Dæhlie * 1994 Italy - Maurilio De Zolt, Marco Albarello, Giorgio Vanzetta & Silvio Fauner * 1998 Norway - Sture Sivertsen, Erling Jevne, Bjørn Dæhlie, & Thomas Alsgaard * 2002 Norway - Anders Aukland, Frode Estil, Kristen Skjeldal, & Thomas Alsgaard * 2006 Italy - Fulvio Valbusa, Giorgio di Centa, Pietro Piller Cottrer, & Cristian Zorzi |
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World champions in men's 4 x 10 km cross country relay |
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1933 Sweden - Per Erik Hedlund, Sven Utterström, Nils-Joel Englund, & Hjalmar Bergström * 1934 Finland - Sulo Nurmela, Klaes Karppinen, Martti Lappalainen, & Veli Saarinen * 1935 Finland - Mikko Husu, Klaes Karppinen, Väinö Liikkanen, & Sulo Nurmela * 1937 Norway - Annar Ryen, Oskar Fredriksen, Sigurd Røen, & Lars Bergendahl * 1938 Finland - Juho 'Jussi' Kurikkala, Martti Lauronen, Pauli Pitkänen, & Klaes Karppinen * 1939 Finland - Pauli Pitkänen, Olavi Alakulppi, Eino Olkinuora, & Klaes Karppinen * 1950 Sweden - Nils Täpp, Karl-Erik Åström, Martin Lundström, & Enar Josefsson * 1954 Finland - August Kiuru, Tapio Mäkelä, Arvo Viitanen, & Veikko Hakulinen * 1958 Sweden - Sixten Jernberg, Lennart Larsson, Sture Grahn, & Per-Erik Larsson * 1962 Sweden - Lars Olsson, Sture Grahn, Sixten Jernberg, & Assar Rönnlund * 1966 Norway - Odd Martinsen, Harald Grønningen, Ole Ellefsæter, & Gjermund Eggen * 1970 Soviet Union - Vladimir Voronkov, Valery Tarakanov, Fyodor Simashev & Vyacheslav Vedenin * 1974 East Germany - Gerd Hessler, Dieter Meinel, Gerhard Grimmer & Gert-Dietmar Klause * 1978 Sweden - Sven-Åke Lundbäck, Christer Johansson, Tommy Limby & Thomas Magnusson * 1982 Norway - Lars-Erik Eriksen, Ove Aunli, Pål Gunnar Mikkelsplass, & Oddvar Brå and 1982 Soviet Union - Vladimir Nikitin, Alexander Batyuk, Yuriy Burlakov, & Alexander Zavyalov * 1985 Norway - Arild Monsen, Pål Gunnar Mikkelsplass, Tor Håkon Holte, & Ove Aunli * 1987 Sweden - Erik Östlund, Gunde Svan, Thomas Wassberg, & Torgny Mogren * 1989 Sweden - Christer Majbäck, Gunde Svan, Lars Håland, & Torgny Mogren * 1991 Norway - Øyvind Skaanes, Terje Langli, Vegard Ulvang, & Bjørn Dæhlie * 1993 Norway - Sture Sivertsen, Vegard Ulvang, Terje Langli, & Bjørn Dæhlie * 1995 Norway - Sture Sivertsen, Erling Jevne, Bjørn Dæhlie, & Thomas Alsgaard * 1997 Norway - Sture Sivertsen, Erling Jevne, Bjørn Dæhlie, & Thomas Alsgaard * 1999 Austria - Markus Gandler, Alois Stadlober, Mikhail Botvinov, & Christian Hoffmann * 2001 Norway - Frode Estil, Odd-Bjørn Hjelmeset, Thomas Alsgaard, & Tor Arne Hetland * 2003 Norway - Anders Aukland, Frode Estil, Tore Ruud Hofstad, & Thomas Alsgaard * 2005 Norway - Odd-Bjørn Hjelmeset, Frode Estil, Lars Berger, & Tore Ruud Hofstad * 2007 Norway - Eldar Rønning, Odd-Bjørn Hjelmeset, Lars Berger, & Petter Northug |
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