posted Jan 20th, 2010 - The NSL News story on 20 October 2009 (Archives > 2009 > News > Search for: "Trude Sviggum") had introduced Norway's new national 4-way team for the Open Class. The same story mentioned in the last paragraph that Norway will also have a new 4-way lineup for IPC's female category.

The plans of the new team have now been finalized, and Norway's IPC Delegate of the past years, Trude Sviggum, provided the information. She has all the insights as she is coming back into 4-way competition as a member of the new lineup.

In fact, Trude Sviggum's new team project makes her Norway's longest standing and active international 4-way competitor. Her passion for the sport also shows with her additional duties as the Deputy Chair of IPC's Formation Skydiving Committee and her position as the manager of Formation Skydiving competition in Norway in the past years.

First of all, this is the lineup of the Norwegian female 4-way team, Polaris, which will represent the Scandinavian country this year, and most likely for another few years: Ellen Burchardt (Center Outside), Kristine Willadsen (Point), Trude Sviggum (Center Inside), Sissel Maria Finnseth (Tail), with Gudrun Rokne on camera.

Trude Sviggum already trained and competed with the very first Norwegian female lineup in 2000. The first version of the Norgie Girls (Ditta Valsdottir, Trude Sviggum, Line Soevik, Ine Moerk) finished in 2nd place at the World Cup 2000, with an 11.4 average.

The same lineup continued in 2001 and competed at the World Championship of Formation Skydiving in Spain 2001 where the female 4-way competition became the third official FS category for the first time. The Norgie Girls, aka TNT, won the silver medals with a 14.4 average. Arcteryx member of 2004 - 2008, Ditta Valsdottir, was in the same Norwegian female lineup of 2000 and 2001.

Kristin Opøien replaced Line Soevik at the beginning of the 2002 season, and the next lineup of the Norgie Girls prepared for the World Meet 2003 in France. The Norwegian team won another silver medal at the World Cup 2002 with a 14.1 average.

The 16.2 average of the same lineup at the World Meet 2003 in France would become the highest meet average of a female Norwegian lineup in the the country's history of Formation Skydiving competition, event though the Fortitudo lineup of 2008 tied the meet average five years later, once again with Trude Sviggum in the lineup.

Norway's female 4-way competitors then took a break. Ditta Valsdottir was recruited for the new Arcteryx Open Class lineup, and Norway did not have a team for IPC's female category at the World Meet in Croatia 2004 and the World Cup in Eloy 2005.

The hibernation was over when a female military lineup competed for Norway at the World Meet in Germany 2006. This time, Trude Sviggum competed together with team mate of 2002 and 2003, Kristin Opøien, plus Anne Sofie Boe, Anne Simone Botten and Cathrine Lie Tunes. Norway's female team finished tied with Ukraine and Switzerland in 7th place, with a 12.6 average.

This lineup discontinued, and Norway did not have a female lineup at the World Cup 2007 in Russia. Fortitudo, with former DeLand Norgies 3-time bronze medalist in the Open Class (1999, 2001, 2003), Lise Nansen-Aune, began with their preparations for the World Meet in France 2008 at the beginning of the 2008 season.

This was the year when Ellen Burchardt and Kristine Willadsen moved up from former Norwegian farm teams into the spotlight of international 4-way competition. Trude Sviggum was still and once again in the lineup that tied her own Norwegian record average of 16.2 at the World Meet of 2008 in France. This time, it was only good enough for the 4th place, tied with Australia.

The 2009 season was another quiet year for the Norwegian all-female teams. Ellen Burchardt and Kristine Willadsen trained and competed with Nexus at the World Cup 2009 in the Czech Republic. However, there was no Norwegian participation in the female catageory.

The 2010 World Meet season brings the Norwegian hibernation back to life.

Ellen Burchardt and Kristine Willadsen decided not to join the selection process for the new national team in the Open Class. They preferred to form their own all-female lineup and join forces with Trude Sviggum, while Marianne Nordlund, Yngve Haugom, Kjetil Nordin and Tore Granmo will represent Norway in the Open Class this year.

Ellen Burchardt, Kristine Willadsen and Trude Sviggum found Sissel Maria Finnseth for the Tail slot. Former Fortitudo videographer Gudrun Rokne will film the team. Sissel Maria Finnseth is relatively new to 4-way competition, as she made her first jump in 2006 and has a total of little over 200 jumps by now.

However, Trude Sviggum said that her new team mate has had plenty of wind tunnel training with perfect guidance. Former DeLand Norgies Center Inside, Torstein Valen, is her boyfriend and has forwarded all the rear piece knowledge and expertise to the new team's Tail.

Trude Sviggum added that all the jumps that Sissel Maria Finnseth has made after the AFF course have been in 4-way or 8-way and with world class coaching. She also competed with Rookie Class team Engleflass at the Norwegian Nationals in 2007, 2008 and 2009 and already won two silver medals and one bronze medal.

Then she was invited to compete with the "Norgies and Friends" 8-way team that won the silver medals in Norway last year behind the Arcteryx/Nexus combination.

Trude Sviggum said that her new team mate is very talented and very motivated. She works as a pilot for a Norwegian airline and is currently in training to become one of the airline's first female captains. Her boyfriend Torstein Valen works for the same airline.

Sissel Maria Finnseth was flying the Point slot for Engleflass and has now switched to the Tail slot for Polaris. Trude Sviggum has moved from from Center Outside to Center Inside, and Ellen Burchardt does the opposite. Kristine Willadsen continues to be the Point for the new lineup.

Polaris has completed six hours of wind tunnel training so far, and it feels very good and very promising, as Trude Sviggum told the NSL News. She said that Polaris, which is actually known as the Northern Star in Astronomy, plans to stay together until the World Meet of 2012. XL and Sinapsi member Steve Hamilton is the team's coach this year.

The World Challenge 2010 will be the first competition for Polaris.

Trude Sviggum said that she will follow up with more details of the team's training and competition agenda in 2010.