From the tiny island of Leka off the coast of Norway, which boasts a mere 600 inhabitants, Irish cross country skier Maloney Westgård represents Ireland thanks to his mother Celia Maloney from Dunmore, Co.Galway.
Celia moved to Norway over 35 years ago after meeting her husband Ove on a holiday in the Canaries. Ove sadly died from cancer not long after he got to witness Thomas realise a lifelong dream when he made his Olympic debut at the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang.
“I was really happy that I could finish the races and that he witnessed that. It was huge for both of us.”
When Thomas takes to the start in Predazzo he will become only the second Irish athlete ever to compete at three Winter Olympic Games alongside snowboarder Seamus O’Connor, something he was unaware of but describes as ‘very cool’ in his characteristically understated way.
Growing up in Norway with cross country skiing the national sport there were no shortage of stars for a young Thomas to watch on TV. However he always found himself wondering why there were no Irish skiers, so thought it would be something to be the first one, and set about achieving that.
“The biggest dream for me was to become an Olympian for Ireland and that has been really strong from a young age. It’s the proudest moment of my life to ski for Ireland, especially in the Olympics. I feel the privilege of doing what I love to do, and living my dream.”
Although introduced to skiing in school as a youngster it wasn’t until relatively late age of sixteen when he went to a skiing school that he became serious about it. Thomas first represented Ireland in 2015. Over the intervening decade has worked tirelessly to rise through the rankings and record his best ever finish of a remarkable 13th place at the 2025 World Championships in the 50km mass start.
Thomas finished an incredible 14th at the 2022 Olympics Games in Beijing and it was after that he signed with the professional Team Aker Daehlie based in Trondheim, which has been a gamechanger for the thirty year old, and points to why he has doubled his World Cup points in the last two years.
“There are world class skiers on the team such as Andrew Musgrave from the Great Britain team who has been seventh in the Olympics so when you have guys like that training with you on a regular basis you see where the level is – it’s a great measurement right there.”
Training between 3-5 hours a day would be norm. They do two high altitude training camps a year and have access to enclosed ski tunnels for year round training when snow is scarce. Hans Kristian Standheim is head coach of the pro team and will be by his side in Italy as part of the Irish delegation, with access to key support staff another notable benefit, and crucially a contract with a ski manufacturer ensuring access to ski testers and technicians.
The support of the Flogas Make a Difference programme has been instrumental in allowing him chase the gains when it comes to the equipment.
“Equipment is very important in cross country skiing. For example between a very good ski and a medium ski it can easily be a minute over 10km; it’s like Formula One really where equipment matters.”
Thomas’ mum Celia will travel to Italy to watch her son compete, with her siblings and many family he is close to watching on from Galway and Dublin. Of the three events he is set to contest the 50km mass start is his favourite and will be raced in his preferred Classic style also. Nerves are not something he feels and instead says,
‘I try always to encourage myself to enjoy the moment more. I have this saying that as long as you are improving yourself and become better you are winning, it’s a competition against yourself and I guess by taking every step at a time it has got me far really.’