Alpine skier Henrik Kristoffersen revealed in the Dagbladet podcast Intervjuet that he experienced intense anger in November 2016 when the Norwegian Ski Federation voted down a sponsorship deal that would have placed the Red Bull logo on his helmet.
The Sponsorship Vote That Triggered a Crisis
In November 2016, Kristoffersen waited at a training camp on Geilo for a phone call. The board of the Norwegian Ski Federation was scheduled to vote at noon on a sponsorship agreement with Telenor that was supposed to open helmet advertising to all runners. Telenor demanded exclusivity across the entire federation, which became the central point of contention. Kristoffersen heard nothing through the afternoon. By evening, his father, Lars, called with the news that the board had voted down the agreement, as Dagbladet reported.
Jeg mistet det totalt,
Kristoffersen told the podcast Intervjuet, hosted by Editor-in-Chief Gunnar Stavrum and presenter Ole Eikeland, describing how he found a shovel outside and struck the snow repeatedly. Jeg husker jeg fant en spade utenfor. Og jeg sto og slo med den spaden. Og jeg slo og slo ned i snøen. Jeg var så sint. Jeg hadde aldri vært så sint før.
He stated that he had already worked on the arrangement for over three years, adding that his world felt completely destroyed.
Conflict nearly breaks apart skier family
The conflict created severe personal fallout. Kristoffersen stated in the interview that the situation nearly caused his family to break apart because he could not accept the federation’s decision. He described feeling an extreme sense of betrayal from both the organization and specific individuals in leadership, noting that Telenor retained its exclusivity while he was denied the helmet space and Aksel Lund Svindal kept his. The skier explained that he walked around feeling as though he had thousands of small stones or glass shards in his shoes, feeling angry almost constantly.
To cope with the emotional toll, Kristoffersen sought out anger management rather than a traditional sports psychologist. Psychologist Tom Henning Øvrebø attended a meeting with the men’s alpine team, and Kristoffersen approached him afterward to ask for help. He also admitted that he explored the possibility of obtaining an Austrian passport with lawyers to evaluate switching national teams during the height of the dispute.
Board rejects agreement due to Telenor exclusivity demands
Why did the Norwegian Ski Federation vote down the Red Bull deal in 2016?
The board rejected the agreement because Telenor required exclusive sponsorship rights across the entire ski federation, which conflicted with the proposed compromise to open helmet advertising for individual athletes like Kristoffersen.
Who else was involved in the 2016 sponsor dispute?
Henrik Kristoffersen’s father and trainer, Lars, managed the family’s response, while Trond Olsen led the alpine committee at the time and received a phone call from an upset Kristoffersen the evening the vote failed.
What did Henrik Kristoffersen do to address his anger?
He contacted psychologist Tom Henning Øvrebø for anger management sessions after the psychologist participated in a meeting with the men’s alpine team.
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