Thomas Maloney Westgård
Norwegian-Irish cross-country skier (born 1995) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thomas Hjalmar Maloney Westgård (born 10 October 1995) is a Norwegian-Irish cross-country skier who competes for Ireland internationally.[1][2]
Thomas Maloney Westgård | |
---|---|
Country | Ireland Norway |
Full name | Thomas Hjalmar Maloney Westgård |
Born | (1995-10-10) 10 October 1995 (age 28) Leka, Nord-Trøndelag, Norway |
Ski club | Steinkjer SK |
World Cup career | |
Seasons | 7 – (2017–present) |
Starts | 85 |
Podiums | 0 |
Overall titles | 0 – (59th in 2023) |
Discipline titles | 0 |
Updated on 29 March 2023. |
Westgård was born and grew up in Leka, Norway.[3] His father is Norwegian, and his mother is Irish, and he is a dual citizen of Ireland and Norway. He began skiing competitively in Norway at age 16 or 17. In the summer of 2016, he began representing Ireland in the World Cup.[3][4] Westgård had begun his nationality transfer process in 2014,[5] and was assisted in the process by Rory Morrish, the head of the Irish Skiing Federation.[6] In local competitions in Norway, he represents the ski club Steinkjer SK in Steinkjer, Norway.[5][7] Westgård's mother's family name is Maloney,[8] and the Snowsports Association of Ireland refer to him as Thomas Maloney Westgaard.[2]
Westgård lives in Meråker, Norway, and is being trained by the retired champion cross-country skier Frode Estil. Since joining the Irish skiing team, Westgård has participated in the 2016–17 FIS Cross-Country World Cup, débuting for Ireland in Lillehammer, Norway, on 2 December 2016 and also taking part in further World Cup races in Estonia and Sweden.[2][3][4]
He competed for Ireland at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2017 in Lahti, Finland, one of five Irish participants in the championships.[9] In his world championship début in the Men's sprint on 23 February 2017, Westgård ranked as number 77,[1][10] while at the Men's 30 kilometre pursuit on 25 February 2017, he came in last of the participating contestants.[11] He achieved his best result of the championship in the Men's 15 kilometre classical on 1 March 2017, ranking as 49th.[8] Westgård brought a three-man team to the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2017, including his father as a helper and Irish cross-country skier Dominic McAleenan as team manager.[12]
Westgård participated in the 2018 Winter Olympics and the 2022 Winter Olympics, representing Ireland.[3][13]