“I prepare for slalom and slalom with the same effort, I don’t make a difference,” said last year’s world champion in slalom when asked by the editor of Seznam Zpráv. “I will definitely try the super-giant slalom, but that’s more likely at the end of the season, it won’t be my priority yet,” he replied shortly after he landed at the Ruzyne airport by private plane. His next challenge will be November’s slalom in Levi, Finland.
The twenty-nine-year-old competitor will certainly be one of the main favorites this year as well. Last year, he even placed third in the overall standings of the Downhill World Cup. In the giant slalom, he identified Swiss Marc Odermatt and then compatriot Lucas Braathen as his main rivals, but he did not agree with the Norwegian ski association about the level of sponsorship and ended his career in the national team.
But Kristoffersen himself reminded that Lucas still has Brazilian citizenship through his mother and it is not so impossible that he could start for this skiing exotic country. “It’s an unpleasant situation, I also had some discrepancies with the union at one time, but we managed to settle it. You know, skiers have it tough in Norway. Until I was really good, my parents paid for all my training,” explained Henrik.
At the same time, Norway today belongs to the strongest downhill teams in the world. This spring, the men finished second, third and fourth overall and won the downhill and slalom. In the women’s category, Ragnhild Mowinckelová took sixth place overall.
Everyone was amused by the conversation about his Wednesday program at home. Did you train in the snow yet in the morning? No, definitely not, I was looking after my son Emil because my wife was sleeping, laughed the top skier who lives with his partner Tonje Barkenesová mainly in Salzburg, Austria.
“In Norway, I’m ‘Henrik Kristofršen’, but feel free to call me Kristofersen”, he finally explained to Nauzal the correct pronunciation of his name.
At the same time, the top Norwegian slalomer touched several times on his former rivalry and relationship with the phenomenal Austrian slalomer Marcel Hirscher. “It’s definitely better to work with him,” he said of new ski development, “than to compete with him on the slopes.”
