Bjarte Engen Vik (born March 3, 1971 in Tromsø

Tromsø

Tromsø is a city and municipality in Troms county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Tromsø.Tromsø city is the ninth largest urban area in Norway by population, and the seventh largest city in Norway by population...

) is a former Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 nordic combined

Nordic combined

The Nordic combined is a winter sport in which athletes compete in both cross-country skiing and ski jumping.- History :While Norwegian soldiers are known to have been competing in Nordic skiing since the 19th century, the first major competition in Nordic combined was held in 1892 in Oslo at the...

 athlete. He won the FIS World Cup overall twice, in 1997/98 and 1998/99 with a total of 24 wins. He also has eight medals from the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships

FIS Nordic World Ski Championships

The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships have been held in various numbers and types of events since 1925 for men and since 1954 for women. Championship events include nordic skiing's three disciplines: cross-country skiing, ski jumping, and nordic combined...

 with five golds (1997: 4 x 5 km team, 1999: 15 km individual, 7.5 km sprint, 2001: 15 km individual, 4 x 5 km team), and three silvers (1995: 4 x 5 km team, 1997: 15 km individual, 1999: 4 x 5 km team). He also managed to win a bronze medal in the Norwegian championship in ski jumping

Ski jumping

Ski jumping is a sport in which skiers go down a take-off ramp, jump and attempt to land as far as possible down the hill below. In addition to the length of the jump, judges give points for style. The skis used for ski jumping are wide and long...

. His consecutive wins in the Individual Gundersen at the Nordic skiing World Championships in 1999 and 2001 were the first since Oddbjørn Hagen

Oddbjørn Hagen

Oddbjørn Hagen was a Norwegian skier who competed in nordic combined and cross-country skiing. He was both Olympic champion and world champion.-Olympic games:...

 did it in 1934 and 1935.

Vik also found great success at the Holmenkollen ski festival

Holmenkollen ski festival

The Holmenkollen Ski Festival is a traditional annual Nordic skiing event in Holmenkollen, Oslo, Norway. The full official name of the event is Holmenkollen FIS World Cup Nordic. It takes place in March and has been arranged every year since 1892, except for 1898 and during World War II...

, winning the Nordic combined individual event five times (1996-2000), becoming one of only four athletes to do so (Lauritz Bergendahl

Lauritz Bergendahl

Lauritz Bergendahl was a Norwegian Nordic skier who won both the nordic combined and the 50 km cross country skiing events at the Holmenkollen ski festival in 1910, 1912, 1913, 1914, and 1915...

, Johan Grøttumsbråten

Johan Grøttumsbråten

Johan Grøttumsbråten was a Norwegian skier who competed in Nordic combined and cross-country. Dominating both events in the 1920s and early 1930s, he won several medals in the early Winter Olympics. Most notably, he won two gold medals at the 1928 Winter Olympics, and as one of the only two dual...

, and Rauno Miettinen

Rauno Miettinen

Rauno Miettinen is a former Finnish Nordic combined skier. He earned a silver in the individual event at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo....

 are the others.). He also won the Nordic combined 7.5 km sprint event at the festival twice (1997, 2000). Vik's seven career wins at the Holmenkollen are the most among any competitor in Nordic combined.

Vik received the Holmenkollen medal

Holmenkollen medal

The Holmenkollen medal is Norwegian skiing's highest award for competitors. It signifies top placings in international championships and other international events, including the Holmenkollen events....

 in 1997 (shared with Stefania Belmondo

Stefania Belmondo

Stefania Belmondo is an Italian former cross-country skier.-Debut:Belmondo was born in Vinadio, in the province of Cuneo , the daughter of a housewife and an electric company employee....

 and Bjørn Dæhlie

Bjørn Dæhlie

Bjørn Erlend Dæhlie is a Norwegian businessman and retired cross-country skier. With 8 olympic gold medals, Dæhlie is the most winning winter olympic champion of all time. With nine gold medals in the Nord World Ski Championships he is in addition the most winning World Champion skier...

).