This winter Kari Vikhagen Gjeitnes won Marcialonga and finished second in the yellow bib Champion competition. The win at Marcialonga was her first victory in Visma Ski Classics. Now she has decided to end her career.
“This is a day I have been thinking about for a long time but now I have decided to quit. Everything has its time, and I now have more desire to live outside the sports bubble than in it,” she writes on her Instagram.
“I am proud and happy for everything I have achieved in cross country skiing. Many goals have been reached but equally good memories are all the people I have met and the places I got to see,” Vikhagen Gjeitnes continues.
35-year-old Vikhagen Gjeitnes has a background as a World Cup skier. Back in 2005, Kari won gold in the sprint competition at the Junior World Championships. After that she was in and out of the Norwegian National Team in the World Cup circuit, with her best results in sprint races. At the World Championships in Falun in 2015, she was in the final and finished in 5th place.
Kari got into Visma Ski Classics in 2017 and was close to winning Årefjällsloppet that year. She has through her long distance skiing career done many good races and been on the podium nine times-including the victory at Marcialonga this winter where she beat her teammate in Team Koteng, Astrid Øyre Slind, by 7 seconds.
“It was a dream come true. I was in great shape and we had amazing skis. I’ve always known that Marcialonga is a race that suits me well,” she said after the race.
