A special situation was seen at the Cross-Country Skiing World Cup on Friday, when Norway, the powerhouse of the sport, could not get two teams together for the women’s pair sprint in Davos.
The situation shocked people in Norway as well. Norwegian newspaper VG wrote The Norwegian team management and the women’s national team have received heavy criticism.
Adressa magazine columnist Birger Löfaldl reminded that a competition like the Davos pair sprint is an opportunity for cross-country skiing. Evening race on Friday in great conditions.
According to Löfald, Norway’s actions were reprehensible and he saw that the Norwegian team management gave the World Cup race the stamp of a B race.
Norwegian Viaplay expert, former top skier, Niklas Dyrhaug saw that Norway, as the biggest country in cross-country skiing and with the sport’s biggest budget, has a responsibility together with the big countries of other sports, Finland and Sweden. In Dyrhaug’s opinion, full teams must be fielded for the World Cup.
– I know that many smaller countries look up to the Nordic countries and especially Norway. I don’t like the signal this gives. Especially knowing that many back home in Norway would do everything they could to compete in the World Cup, Dyrhaug states.
Sweden, Finland, USA, Germany, Switzerland and Italy had two teams in the women’s pair sprint.
Criticism from Norwegian athletes too
The background is that on Saturday in Davos there will be a free skiing sprint. It is a big screen place for the Norwegians, thinking about the World Cup home games in Trondheim in February-March. At that time, the sprint was specifically competed in freestyle skiing. The pair sprint is competed with a traditional one.
According to VG’s calculations, at least six sprint women watched the race from the sidelines on the spot in Davosis, focusing on Saturday.
Competition manager of the International Ski Federation FIS Michael Lamps thought it was a pity in the interview with VG that Norway put only one team in the competition. However, he has a “certain understanding” of prioritizing the sprint race.
Norway had two teams in the men’s pair sprint. Second team That’s right Hegstad Kruger and Even Northug however, they were eliminated from the finals. Krüger understood the athletes’ decision, but did not see the effect on his own next race on Sunday’s normal course.
– I think we should compete. This is a show and fun. I have wanted more evening races and more shows. This is good TV time, so athletes should compete, Krüger said.
Even Northug, competing in the sprint on Saturday, also criticized his teammates.
– It is important that we do not send such a signal that we are not interested in this at all and we only think about it personally. This is the future. I had no hesitation that I would not compete in the pair sprint, Northug stated.
It’s a pain for the race organizers too
Norway’s only women’s team Astrid A mole Slind and Kristin Fosnäs surprised the Swedish sprint stars by coming second in the competition Emma Ribomin and Jonna Sundling’s double cloth.
The Norwegian race duo Slind and Fosnäs are better known as normal distance skiers, and they have not competed in a pair sprint before. They don’t have any top results from sprint races. The two admitted to VG that they could not have expected such a strong result.
Coach of the Norwegian women’s national team, skiing legend Marit Björgen also responded to VG’s harsh criticism about only one team in the pair sprint.
– This time it went like this. We tried to get two teams. However, Saturday is an important race for many. They didn’t necessarily want to compete today, but we had a fantastic team. It worked, Björgen said.
According to Astrid Öyre Slind, the critics would not have competed on Friday if they had a chance to qualify for the World Championships on Saturday.
– This is something that the organizers have to accept. If they want the best teams at the starting line, they should switch race days, Slind said.
Urheilu’s skiing expert Aino–Kaisa Saarinen can also see Norway’s monetary situation in the background. The Norwegian Skiing Association has also suffered from financial difficulties, so it is not possible to fly as many Norwegians as you like to Davos.
He also understands that the pair sprint is a tight race to race before the sprint. Davos is located more than 1,500 meters above sea level, so recovery is also more difficult at high altitude. Saarinen reminds that in Finland’s first team Jasmin Kinky went sour on Friday and it will eat into the performance on Saturday’s trip to the World Cup.
– It has been talked about all along that expenses have risen. That’s the problem. Even Norway is tight on money. FIS needs to think about what kind of program to make. I have to think about whether this type of solution will be made in the future. They must have thought about the fact that the sprinters will have two days in a row. Double sprint and sprint. It’s a beautiful idea, but it doesn’t work like that, Saarinen sums up the Norwegian laziness.