Nineteen-year-old Jenny Axisa Eriksen made history at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics as the first cross-country skier to represent Malta. She finished 107th in the Women’s 10km Interval Race at Tesero, in 32:51.4.
Born in Norway to a Maltese mother and a Norwegian father, Axisa Eriksen has skied since the age of two. She won Malta’s quota place at the 2025 World Championships in Trondheim, and in her first season as a senior trains in Lillehammer with coach Henrik Skjørvold Pedersen. She carried the Maltese flag at the Opening Ceremony of the Predazzo cluster.
“Competing for Malta is a huge honour and a privilege,” she said before the race. “I will give my very best on Thursday and do everything I can to make Malta proud.”
Malta’s fourth Winter Games was led by Chef de Mission Maria Vella-Galea. “We are a small, tight-knit team here in the Predazzo Olympic Village, and that has helped create a calm, supportive environment for Jenny,” she said. “For a first-time Olympian, that sense of stability and trust is invaluable.”
