By Johan Trygg
On Monday, the 26-year-old Norwegian Thea Krokan Murud was presented as a new acquisition in Lager 157 Ski Team, which gets a really sharp women lineup with Britta Johansson Norgren and Hanna Falk together with Thea.
“It will be so fun to compete together with Britta and Hanna in the coming season,” says Krokan Murud.
After both a broken rib and a concussion, Thea Krokan Murud made a very late season premiere – at Vasaloppet. There she finished fourth. She then was fifth at Tåssåsen Criterium 64 and ended season XI with third place at 100 km Årefjällsloppet. Her first podium place in the Pro Tour.
Lager 157 Ski Team will be the third team in three years for Krokan Murud. She made her first season in the Pro Tour two years ago, in Team Ragde Eiendom. She didn’t get the possibility to continue in Ragde Season XI despite a season that included a fifth-place at La Diagonela.
Vetle Thyli then took her into Team Kaffebryggeriet. But the stay in the “coffee team” lasted only one year.
What did Vetle say when you told him you were leaving his team?
“It was a bit of a shock for him. He thought it was really sad and would have preferred to see me stay in his team. I took the team’s first podium place when I finished third at Årefjällsloppet,” says Krokan Murud.
Season XI became, as told, very short for Thea. Everything looked fine at the beginning of the training season, but at the end of a four-hour session on roller skis last summer, she felt that she could not put one of the poles properly in the asphalt because it hurt so much.
“I don’t really know what caused the injury. I had not fallen. At first, I just thought it was something muscular and went to a Naprapath. But it turned out to be a broken rib. Maybe it was caused when I did a bench press and got the bar a little too hard on myself,” she said back then.
It was a long rehabilitation from that injury, but when Season XI started in mid-January, that was not why Krokan Murud was not on the starting line.
“No, I fell on skis around Christmas and got a concussion.”
Because of that, the competition break became a whole year. Thea’s seventh place at Vasaloppet 2020 was changed to fourth place this year, 17 seconds behind Team Ramuddens Ida Dahl, in the third position.
“Something I should have been happy with after such a long break, but it was so close to third place.”
Krokan Murud then got revenge on Dahl when she finished in third place at Årefjällsloppet, when Dahl was fourth.
Now the Norwegian is looking forward to being part of a Swedish Pro Team in her third season in the Pro Tour. Together with her boyfriend Marcus Johansson.
“Everything feels so great. I’m really looking forward to race a whole season now and with two girls as strong as Britta and Hanna as teammates.
In Season XI, Team Ramudden dominated Visma Ski Classics’ on the women’s side with the trio Lina Korsgren, Ida Dahl and Jenny Larsson. Now we can look forward to exciting battles against Johansson Norgren, Krokan Murud, and Falk, who steps into the long distance skiing world.
Thea has now done some long double poling sessions on roller skis together with her new teammates during Lager 157 Ski Team’s first training camp. The camp started in Ulricehamn in the south part of Sweden on Monday.
“It feels great to train together with two such strong skiers as Britta and Hanna. It will be so much fun to compete with them in the coming winter, Krokan Murud concludes.
In the future, Thea will spend some time in Sweden at training camps with Lager 157 Ski Team and with her boyfriend Marcus Johansson in the Ulricehamn area. However, she will not move to Sweden. If you are a skier and lives in Lillehammer, you do not move from there in the first place.
Thea Krokan Murud next to Britta Johansson Norgren on her second training session with Lager 157 Ski Team. Photo: Lager 157 Ski Team.
