Karen Fladset

Karen Fladset (born 27 May 1944) is a former Norwegian team handball player and coach. She played for the club IL Vestar and the Norwegian women's national handball team. With Vestar she became Norwegian Champion both as player and coach, and she was top scorer in the Norwegian league for four seasons. After her playing career she was head coach for the national team for two years, and later coach for various clubs. She was also Norwegian champion in discus throw three times.

Fladset was born in Borgund as the daughter of Olav Fladset (1905–1970) and Lillemor Hofset (1909–1992). She is the cousin of former Norwegian footballplayer, Finn Seeman. She made her debut on the national handball team in 1962, 17 years old. She was educated as a gymnastics teacher at Norwegian School of Sport Sciences (then called Statens gymnastikkskole). Here she received a scholarship from 1970 to 1973, and wrote a thesis on handball tactics.

In the 1960s she also competed in athletics. She won the national championships in discus throw in 1962, 1966 and 1967, and achieved bronze medals in 1963 and 1968. Her winning result in 1962 of 36.13 metres was the worst winning result since 1949 (Norwegian championships for women were inaugurated in 1947). In 1966 and 1967 she won with 37.42 metres and 38.24 metres respectively. Her personal best throw was 39.84 metres, achieved in June 1967 on Frogner stadion. She represented SK Olymp until the mid-1960s, when she changed club to IL Vestar, and still has the club record in Olymp (now: IL Molde-Olymp), in both discus throw and high jump. She also had 5.52 metres in the long jump from 1966.

Fladset played team handball for the club IL Vestar, and from 1970 to 1979 she both coached and played for the club. Vestar won the national league eight years in a row, starting from the 1971/1972 season. The club also won the 1975 outdoor championship, and the national cup in 1976 and 1977. The club twice reached the semifinal of the European Champions Cup. Fladset was top scorer in the Norwegian league in the seasons 1974–75, 1975–76, 1976–77 and 1978–79, when she played for Vestar, and Vestar also won the national league these years. Fladset played 86 matches and scored 251 goals for the national team between 1962 and 1973, including participation at the 1971 World Women's Handball Championship in the Netherlands and the 1973 World Women's Handball Championship in Yugoslavia. During the 1975/1976 season Fladset was assistant coach for the national team, when Frode Kyvåg was head coach.

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