A Google search for “Sophia Laukli” yields some interesting results. “I am related to a famous Norwegian Viking,” she says on the website of the American Ski Association. When news sits down with her in a café in Nydalen on a slightly cloudy July day, it is natural to start there: Which famous Viking? – “Oh man”, yes, it has been mentioned many times, she begins. Laukli speaks English – she has asked nicely to do so, although she also speaks fairly good Norwegian. – It was my father who said that a long time ago, and I just took it with me as a truth. I think his name is something like… Hair… handsome? – Harald Hårfagre? – Yes, him! And it is a very distant relative. NEW HOME TRACK: Holmenkollbakken will witness Sophia Laukli on skis and roller skis a lot in the coming years. Photo: Anders Skjerdingstad / news Facts about Sophia Laukli Some family trees do not appear on Google. The relationship to the king who, according to Snorre’s royal sagas, united Norway into one kingdom around 1,100 years ago, is somewhat difficult to document. What is indisputable is that Sophia Laukli – born on 8 June 2000 in Yarmouth, Maine, USA – has a father named Bjørn who comes from Konnerud. It is also clear that Laukli was on the American team that took silver in the relay during the Junior World Championships in cross-country skiing in 2020, and that she came fifth in the 15 km freestyle in the same championship, in a race where Helene Marie Fossesholm was world champion. To date, she has run 28 World Cup races in cross-country skiing. She has been on the podium once – when she climbed to third place in the monster hill in Val di Fiemme on 8 January. ON THE PODIUM: Only Delphine Claudel (centre) and Heidi Weng (left) climbed from Sophia Laukli in the monster hill last winter. Photo: NTB There have also been two WCs as a senior, and an Olympics. We will dwell a little on what happened in Beijing in 2022. – It was interesting. I will do it again in a more normal time, hopefully in Italy in a few years. It was very cool, it felt surreal the whole time, says Laukli. The Olympic nightmare: – Miserable “Interesting” and “cool” are words she uses when she looks back at her first Olympics. Along the way, there were other words she would have chosen. Little turned out as she had imagined in the freezing cold covid games. OLYMPIC DEBUT: Sophia Laukli finally got her chance on windy Olympic tracks in Beijing, but her first Olympics was a bit of a nightmare. Photo: LINDSEY WASSON / Reuters – I cried so much. It was pretty miserable, she admits. – Do you cry easily, or was it special? – No I do not. Every day I thought “why am I so upset every single day”. It was mentally exhausting. The circumstances were special. The social intercourse between the athletes was reduced to approximately zero. Laukli did not know which races she would run, but lived constantly in hope. There were many disappointments before she finally got the go-ahead for the final three miles. She was number 15 in her Olympic debut. – It was an experience I grew on. It was very cool, but very tough at the same time, says the 23-year-old. You can say that the road to the top has gone much faster in another sport. Last year she decided to try “trail running”, which directly translated into Norwegian means trail running. In short, it’s a race on trails in the mountains. Steep up and steep down. CLIMBING STRENGTH: Sophia Laukli is best when going uphill. Photo: @the.adventure.bakery Running madness: – Hated it She won “The Broken Arrow Skyrace” on a new course record. Afterwards, she continued to impress in “The Golden Trail Series”. On 25 June, she won the Marathon du Mont-Blanc in superb style, also with a new course record. Next weekend she is the favorite in “The couloir of hell”, “Hell’s corridor”, in the Dolomites. Sophia Laukli is simply the new star in trail running. Something paradoxical, according to herself. – It’s crazy to me how much I actually like running now, based on how much I used to hate it, she says. And elaborates with a broad smile: – I hated running when I was growing up. When I went for runs, I ran when a car came by, and then I walked the rest of the time. I could go to the woods and sit on a bench for an hour, and then go back home. Not surprisingly, she gets a lot of questions about whether she is now going to give up cross-country skiing. – For me, there is definitely more money in it than in cross-country skiing, she acknowledges. Still, the answer is no. She has no plans to drop the Norwegian national sport. Quite the contrary, and that is why she has now moved to Norway with plans to stay indefinitely. BIG TRIUMPH: Sophia Laukli claims she went with a bang, but still set a course record in the Marathon du Mont-Blanc. Photo: @the.adventure.bakery The dream Sophia Laukli has a dream. – It would be very cool if I could compete for a medal in the next Olympics. Going to the Olympics with the potential to win a medal is my biggest goal. To achieve that, she needs help. After changing trainers several times in the USA, Laukli has concluded that she does not know what kind of training is needed to get better. – My philosophy is that I need to listen to a coach who tells me what to do, she says. BELIEVE IN SOPHIA: Hans Kristian Stadheim believes Team Aker Dæhlie’s new American can be the best in the world, also on skis. Photo: Anders Skjerdingstad / news That is why she contacted Hans Kristian Stadheim, trainer in Team Aker Dæhlie. After a few conversations, she got a place on the Norwegian private team with athletes from a number of nations. The collaboration is underway, and news joined the training session in Holmenkollen. This is how Stadheim analyzes the new student’s strengths and weaknesses: – She has an insanely good motor, so we don’t need to work on that so much. But some musculature is missing in the upper body. – More than a monster climber The consequence is that she is raw upwards, but not particularly good further and downwards, at least not compared to the best in the world. Laukli reveals that there is one problem: She hates strength training. – She is not a fan of it. But she is also very, very dedicated. She follows through on her goals, so she does the job even if she doesn’t think it’s fun at all, says Stadheim. Part of Stadheim’s medicine is overdose staking. That is what Sophia Laukli is keen on. – I hope that the strike will give me some muscle and strength. That this makes me something more than a monster climber, she says. NEW TEAM: Sophia Laukli hangs on to Silje Theodorsen, Kari Øyre Slind and Karianne Dengerud on the roller ski track in Holmenkollen. Photo: Anders Skjerdingstad / news – Can be by far the best in the world The coach has no doubts about the student’s potential: – Sophia Laukli can be by far the best skier in the world. On the other hand, he has some skepticism about Laukli’s alleged kinship to the king who united Norway into one kingdom. – I have no idea about that, he says, and bursts into laughter. – She has great hair, so maybe. I don’t know, says Stadheim.
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Cryed her way through an entire Olympics – now Sophia (23) is moving to Norway to fulfill her dream
