Maltese cross-skier Jenny Axisa Eriksen will make her debut in the Winter Olympics when she competes in the 10km Skate race at the Milano-Cortina Games on Thursday.
The 20-year-old is Malta’s first-ever cross-skier to represent our country in these prestigious Games, and she admits that nerves are starting to creep in as the race is approaching.
“I am a bit nervous as the race is fast-approaching now,” Axisa Eriksen told the Times of Malta.
“I am really proud to be representing Malta at the Winter Olympics, and I am very grateful to the Maltese Olympic Committee and VisitMalta for making this participation possible.
“I can assure everyone to do everything I can to get the best possible result. Competition is very tough as the level of the athletes taking part is very strong, but my goal is to give everything I have.”
Axisa Eriksen was born in Norway to a Maltese mum and a Norwegian father. However, their family is really attached to Malta and says that they try to come to Malta for a holiday at every opportunity they have.
“I have a Maltese mum, and my father is from Norway, but we always held Malta close to our hearts, and every time we can, we travel back there to visit our family.
“My grandfather was from Żejtun and then went to live in Marsaskala. I really enjoy coming back to Malta, and actually, I do understand Maltese, but speaking the language is a bit more complicated,” she added with a smile.
Cross-skiing is a very popular sport in Norway, as the Nordic country produced some of the world’s best athletes in the sport, so it is no surprise that Jenny was lured to start practising the sport from a very young age.
“In Norway, everyone practices skiing from a very young age,” she said.
“I think I already had a pair of skis when I was two years old, and I used to ski in kindergarten, too. Actually, it was my mum who wanted me to ski and not my father.
“When I was six, my parents helped me to join a local skiing club, and since then I have been practising the sport. My first competition was when I was ten years old, and I never looked back.”
Axisa Eriksen says that it was at the age of 16 that she felt that cross-skiing could become an important part of her life.
“The sport is very big in Norway, and when I was growing up, I was inspired by the likes of Petter Northug, who was a double Olympic champion, and Marit Bjorgen, who is the most successful sprinter in Cross-Country World Cup history,” Axisa Eriksen said.
“When I was 16-years-old I managed to be accepted into a big skiing school in Norway, and I realised that I had a great chance of having a career in sport.
“The school was ten hours away from where my family lives, so I had to go and live on my own, and it was there that everything got more serious for me.”
Olympic Quota
Axisa Eriksen won her quota to compete at the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics during last year’s World Championships in Trondheim, Norway.
“Competing at the World Championships in Trondheim last year was a big goal for me and have been working hard to arrive for that competition in the best possible shape,” she said.
“It was there that I managed to win my Olympiq quota as I managed to win enough FIS points to seal qualification for the Winter Games. Once I qualified, my full focus was to prepare for these Winter Olympics, and together with my coach, we set up a training programme to ensure I would be prepared for the race.
“For me, it’s going to be a very strong challenge as normally, I compete against all the top skiers in Norway, while here, the competition is coming from all over the world, so I don’t know much about their level.
“But my main goal will be to try and finish as close as possible to the top Norwegian athletes competing in the race.”
Axisa-Eriksen will be one of 111 competitors on the starting line and admitted that the race course is very tough, and it will be very important for her to pace herself well during the race.
“The race course is really tough, I think it’s one of the toughest I ever competed on,” the 20-year-old said.
“I think it will be very important to pace myself the right way, not to get into trouble midway through the race. In the first part, there is a steep hill, and it will be very important to start slowly and make sure I don’t lose a lot of energy there, so that then I can push on for the rest of the race.”
Asked about her future, Axisa Eriksen said that she has a decision to make on what her career head for at the end of the season, but admitted she would love to be able to compete in next year’s World Championships in Sweden.
“I want to study medicine, and I don’t know if I will be able to continue practising the sport at this level due to financial reasons,” Axisa Eriksen said.
“Cross skiing is a very expensive sport, and I have to use a lot of the money that I earn and that my parents provide me to be able to compete.
“This year I competed in the Scandinavian Cup with races held in Norway, Sweden, and Finland, and I had to fork out a lot of money to be able to travel and compete.
“So I need to find a good balance between school, my jobs, and skiing. At the end of the season, I will sit down with my parents and try to decide what’s next.
“But I would love to compete in the World Championships in Sweden next year.”
