Trondheim 2025: Can Kvandal claim “huge” World crown on home hill?

“It’s been hard to remain calm,” admits Eirin Maria Kvandal with a nervous laugh; “I’ve tried hanging out with friends, reading books and even doing puzzles just to try!”

Outside of an Olympic Games, there is simply no event of any greater significance than a home World Championships, particularly if you hail from the nation which invented the sport of ski jumping – Norway.

The nation leads the all-time FIS Nordic World Ski Championships medal standings with 74 honors, 22 of which are gold and Kvandal is without doubt the nation’s leading contender for success in the women’s Normal Hill (NH) and Large Hill (LH) disciplines.

Trondheim 2025 runs from 27 February to 9 March, with Kvandal among those who will compete on the opening day of the event, in the NH qualification round.

After that contest concludes the following day, she will be expected to line-up for Norway in the Women’s Team NH on 1 March, as well as the Mixed Team LH on 5 March.

Kvandal, who has won two World Cup contests this season, will then conclude her campaign with the Large Hill discipline across 6-7 March.

“It's huge, especially the big hill which has always been the main goal for me, so I want to do well, there's nothing bigger (than solo success),” the 23-year-old tells FIS.

“Of course, we also want to perform well as a team because for years now we’ve really worked hard together to become strong as one.

“Everyone supports each other; therefore it would also be really fun to do well as a team.”

The importance of the team has been instilled into the ski jumper from a young age, but she admits it was not easy settling in as a senior, given the calibre of athletes she was joining and the weight of expectation many Norwegian athletes endure.

“It's quite a lot of pressure,” says Kvandal, who joined the senior setup shortly after iconic ski jumper Maren Lundby (NOR) won Olympic gold at PyeongChang 2018.

“We had the best jumper with Maren and of course you want to live up to that.

“We (Thea Minyan Bjoerseth) started at that same time as two younglings with the more mature athletes, but most of the pressure was on Marne and she, as well as the team were all very welcoming and warm towards us.”

Bjoerseth will unfortunately not join her long-term team-mate in Norway’s Trondheim 2025 line-up after suffering long-term knee injuries following a serious crash landing in the penultimate World Cup before the World Championships.

It was one of several events Kvandal chose to miss in order to focus on further preparations in her homeland.

She aims to dedicate any success she has over the next two weeks to her fallen friend and younger team-mate Kjersti Graesli (NOR), who damaged her knee during the World Junior Championships in Lake Placid (USA) earlier this month.

“Thea is my is in my mind all the time and Kjersti our younger athlete as well,” says the European Games silver medalist.

“She lives here in Trondheim and she's been like a little sister to me, so of course, I'll try to jump my best for both of them.”

The ski jumper, like Bjoerseth and Graesli were once inspired by the likes of Lundby, and Kvandal will head into her home World Championships fully aware that there will be young, aspiring elite ski jumpers watching on who see her as their role model.

“It's quite weird, to be honest, it doesn't feel long ago since I watched the World Cups and the World Championships with so much awe,” she recalls with a smile.

“I almost didn't believe that I would be there someday, and now being a role model, it's quite scary, but it's a privilege as well.

“Getting the Championships to Norway and having it in Trondheim is really important to get more people interested in ski sports and I think quite a few school classes are coming to watch so hopefully they’ll have a great time and they will want to come back for more.”

While home support will clearly boost host-nation athlete’s, Kvandal is aware that she will be taking on a host of in-form athletes, as well as others who have proven potential for delivering when it matters most.

World Cup leader Nika Prevc (SLO) is on a run of six successive victories and therefore likely to have a significant say in the outcome of the Normal Hill and Large Hill contests.

Two-time World gold medalist Selina Freitag (GER), who placed second twice behind Prevc in Hinzenbach (AUT) last weekend, is another strong contender, along with reigning World champions Katharina Schmid (GER) and Alexandria Loutitt (CAN). 

“I think the women's side is better than ever,” Kvandal tells FIS.

“We've grown and everyone can see the level now compared to just a few years ago, it's a lot higher, so if you want to stay at the top, you really have to put in a lot of effort now.

“I'm excited to compete again and to see how I'm standing compared to them, because, of course, I follow the competitions in both Ljubno (SLO) and Hinzenbach (AUT) and I can see that their (Prevc’s and Freitag’s) jumping is really good right now.”

As a Norwegian athlete Kvandal has naturally trained and competed on the Granasen hills many times, but she also has relatively recent success at the venue to draw confidence from ahead of the World Championships.

She won the Normal Hill contest and finished second in the Large Hill event at the 2023-24 World Cup events held in Trondheim (NOR).

“I think it's a great venue and I'm really glad we were able to have the Raw Air and the World Cup last year and get to try the hills in in that setting before the World Champs,” she said.

“I think the venue is good and the both of the hills are really great, so I’m just looking forward to jumping.”

Trondheim 2025 - FIS Nordic World Ski Championships (NOR) - Program:

27 February
20.30 – Start Qualification Women’s NH
28 February
14.00 – Competition Start Women’s NH
1 March
17.00 – Competition Start Women's Team NH
20.30 – Start Qualification Men’s NH
2 March
17.00 – Competition Start Men's NH

5 March
16.00 – Competition Start Mixed Team LH
6 March
16.20 – Competition Start Men's Team LH
20.30 – Start Qualification Women's LH
7 March
12.15 – Start Qualification Men's LH
16.15 – Competition Start Women's LH
8 March
15.45 – Competition Start Men's LH

*all times are displayed in Central European Time (CET) and are subject to change.