Frida Karlsson had just defeated Therese Johaug.
Then her coach told the star to go to the roof.
“It became completely black”, writes Johaug in his new book.
These are classic Swedish sports pictures. During Holmenkollen’s classic three-mile race, everyone counted on a certain Therese Johaug victory. She has hardly lost at the distance during her career, and at home she loses even less often. But the Norwegian party would be ruined by a young Swedish star.
Johaug’s Tokilese
During the race, Johaug was advised by his riding team not to change skis. However, Karlsson did, and it would be costly for the Norwegian. Karlsson ate up the distance, and raced on the run and won his very first World Cup race. Therese Johaug could lose, and afterwards she was furious. She felt in good shape, but the tactical move by the Norwegian fencing team lowered her.
In her new book, she names the whole thing as one of the worst moments of her career. And it got even worse when the Norwegian women’s coach Ole Morten Iversen came in and infuriated Johaug with seven sensitive words.
“Ole Morten came to the election bus and said: ‘It was good for the sport that Frida won’, then it was going completely black for me,” she writes.
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The coach’s answer
Johaug writes that she is still angry about the race and what happened, but Ole Morten Iversen says that it was probably not him that Johaug was angry with.
– As for my comment, she was probably incredibly disappointed. She probably felt the comment was directed at her, but that wasn’t how it was meant. There are several who have made similar comments, but what is special is that it is a Norwegian national team coach who says it, he tells Dagbladet.
He believes that he understands that Johaug was – and is – irritated, but believes that his task is greater than just thinking about individual riders.
– I know Therese well, and I believe that. It probably still annoys her. It was so clear, she was just going to win. She missed the victory on a walla miss. And then she receives the comment from me which she may interpret in a different way than it is intended. But she probably still remembers that ride, and probably doesn’t feel so good about it, and so my comment on that. I have to take care of that, he says.
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