Viking Magazine - February 2014 - 12

THE WILD ONES
TEAM ULSRUD
EVENT: Men's Curling
AGES: Thomas Ulsrud, 42; Christoffer
Svae, 31; Torger Nergård, 40; Håvard
Vad Petersson, 30; Thomas Løvold, 32
HOMETOWNS: Four members of
Team Ulsrud were born in Oslo
FUN FACT: The Norwegian Olympic
curling team's pants have their
own page on Facebook
This year will mark the fifth time
curling has officially been an Olympic
team sport, and many in the world
will have their eyes on the Norwegian
men's team. But it won't be simply
because the men have a shot at
medaling again this year, which they
do. Viewers will be watching to see
just what crazy fashion the athletes
will be sporting this year.
Team Ulsrud is Norway's national
TORSTEIN HORGMO
SPORT: Snowboarding
AGE: 26 HOMETOWN: Trondheim
FUN FACT: Is known for his
perfectionistic, almost robotic
work ethic
Torstein Horgmo is one of the most
technical, progressive snowboarders
of all time. In 2011, he hurled himself
off a 100-foot jump and became the
first in the world to land a triple cork
during a competition. That means
he did three off-axis flips and four full
rotations before his board came back
in contact with the ground.
He claimed another " first " in
competition at the Winter X Games
in 2013 when he landed a switch
backside triple cork 1440: a triple cork
landed on the toe side with the back
of the board facing forward.
Horgmo has been raising eyebrows
since 2004 when, at just
16 years old, he won the Burton
European Open Junior Jam, and
quickly followed with a win at the
2005 Air & Style Rookie Challenge.
His impressive season continued
when he won the 5-star O'Neill
Freestyle event later that year.
One of snowboarding's biggest
competitors, Horgmo has
won many of the sport's most
prestigious contests, including the
Winter Dew Tour Slopestyle in 2009,
2010 and 2011. Horgmo also took first
in the X Games Big Air in 2011 and
2013 (when he landed that switch
backside triple cork 1440), the 2013
Burton European Open Big Air and
the 2013 World Cup in slopestyle.
Horgmo has been snowboarding
for only 14 years but is constantly
pushing his sport's boundaries, often
to previously unseen levels.
12 VIKING FEBRUARY 2014 sonsofnorway.com
curling team, and it made a splash
in the Vancouver games while
competing in wild pants. Leading
the team is the skip Thomas Ulsrud,
who is responsible for calling shots
for his teammates to play. But it
was teammate Christoffer Svae who
made the call to wear the brightly
patterened red-white-and-blue pants
made by Loudmouth Golf for their
uniform. Fellow teammates Torger
Nergård, Håvard Vad Petersson and
Thomas Løvold eventually joined in.
Team Ulsrud began competing
together in 2007 and have celebrated
many international achievements. In
the 2010 Olympics, they worked their
way into the gold medal final against
Canada. In the end, Norway narrowly
lost, 7-6, taking home the silver.
You can look for them-and their
crazy pants-trying for gold again
in Sochi.
THE REVOLUTIONARY
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF CTK PHOTO/DAVID TANECEK
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF (LEFT) SCANPIX SWEDEN/REUTERS
http://www.sonsofnorway.com
Viking Magazine - February 2014

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