15 million for X Games 2021 – VG

– It was a refreshing and pleasant message to receive. Without a doubt, that is a good motivation. Now I have a goal to work on, says Norway’s top snowboarder Silje Norendal (27) after receiving the happy news from Xid Norway through X Games Norway manager Henning Andersen.

Along with, among others, her snowboard colleague Marcus Kleveland (21), Silje Norendal presented her sport and plans for the future X Games of Norway to the Minister of Sports Abid Raja in early August.

Action athletes got the impression that he liked what he saw and heard. But he could not give promises and advance credits on the state budget, which will be officially presented next Wednesday.

– This is news that I felt I could give you now. They represent a great sport, with wide coverage on YouTube and alternative channels. They have great appeal. I was very happy when I met them, and it is a great pleasure to tell you that there will also be X Games in Norway next year, says Abid Raja.

The skier Birk Ruud is one of the great ones, an acrobat who bets on several elements:

Henning Andersen originally requested NOK 22 million in state support for X Games Norway in Hafjell in early March this year.

The allocation was finally 15 million. Abid Raja provides the same sum over the cultural budget for the event in March 2021, a year before the Winter Olympics in Beijing.

The Minister of Culture and Gender Equality points out that the “crown situation” means that the event in the 1994 Olympic arena “must take into account different variants.” At present, it is highly uncertain to what extent foreign star athletes will be able to compete in Hafjell and Norway in six months.

– It is an uncertainty that they have to live with and want to work in that line. It is important that we have international events next year, on the condition that adaptations must be planned, says Abid Raja.

Regarding the importance of international championships and events, he refers to the government’s yes to the European Handball Championship in December, the Nordic Games the same month and the playoff match of the European Championship Norway-Serbia at the Ullevaal Stadium. next week.

Henning Andersen confirms that X Games Norway 2021 is planned with a view to flexibility. Basically, it will consist of the knucklehuck “Kleveland exercise” on the Snø indoor arena in Lørenskog north of Oslo, skateboarding at Skur 13 in Filipstad in the capital, the Olympic Big Air and slopestyle exercises – for skiing and snowboarding – in Hafjell.

– I imagine that without full international participation (due to the crown) there will be a qualification for the big event that we have planned for 2022. If we have to arrange without the audience, we will do well. If it can be opened to the public, you get free admission, says Henning Andersen.

Silje Norendal believes it will give more Norwegian athletes the opportunity to participate and show themselves at the X Games, and that it can motivate “breadth”. For her part, she hopes to be able to walk normally again soon, a couple of months after screws and other metals were removed from her foot and calf.

– After the operation, I felt I was fine. But then it turned out that a tendon had become overloaded because a screw had pressed it. At this moment it seems that I am very flat. I have two weeks left before I can take off my “shoe”, says Silje Norendal.

The “shoe” is the ample support you still need to have around your injured leg.

– If I get some good snow sessions before Christmas and am “with” again from January, I will be happy, says Silje Norendal.

She is currently in Finland visiting her fiance Alexander Bonsaksen (33), who will make his season debut with KooKoo on the Finnish top ice hockey series on Saturday.