The news that Läreid, third in the overall World Cup, will be stopped from today’s mass start struck a shocker during the morning in Lenzerheide, but the danger shot already occurred before the sprint on Friday.
– This happened right before the sprint and we didn’t know anything until the afternoon after the competition, says the Norwegian sports director Per Arne Bothnan, and the team was at a loss because they had never encountered a similar incident before and did not know how to handle the situation.
Find the right one with Switzerland, Norway and IBU
There was time for a sprint with a fourth place on Friday and a chase start with a third place for Läreid during yesterday before the Norwegians told what happened to the IBU, where they wanted to be transparent and show a good example.
– We took it up internally and asked ourselves what we should do and orient ourselves between Norwegian and Swiss legislation and the IBU’s regulations and then it took some time. We wanted to make a correct decision and this was unknown to many, but now that it has happened, it is a reminder to all nations that we have to be very careful about this kind of thing, says Botnan.
It is noteworthy that Martin Ponsiluoma was fourth in yesterday’s chase start, the position after Läreid.
Hear expert Helena Ekholm tell about the incident in the player below.