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Torbjörn Nordvall scratches his head about the strategy used by the national team management and the Norwegian Ski Federation when they lead the team to the opening of the World Cup in Ruka.
This is a comment. It is the attitude of the writer that is expressed.
Come on, Eirik Myhr Nossum!
Let Martin Johnsrud Sundby and the other athletes outside the national team show what they are good at before the Finnish Rukla World Cup team next weekend is eliminated in full. It feels very unfair to close the door in front of your face before Beitostølen’s hit list is ready.
It is the same visa every year. The national team management in both Sweden and Norway keeps athletes who have been eliminated in the various training groups (elite) on their shoulders until well into winter.
This field of public transport is nothing new.
It is a sad tradition that kills the emotion and absorbs the motivation.
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The prestige of the coaches is also part of this, I think.
The fact that the Norwegian Ski Association announces a large part of Ruka’s team several days before the season begins is like giving a scolding sermon to the entire other elite.
They have already drawn nine ladies and eight gentlemen. This means that there is only one spot to fight for on the female side, while there are two spots available on the male side.
These vacancies can only be contested by riders of national teams who have not been shortlisted.
That’s horrible, I mean.
What about everyone else? Should they band together to complete the starting list at the national show of power, where Norway, for example, had 27 in the top 30 in last season’s Scandinavian cup?
“Well, this year the train also left before I had time to line up on the platform.” I suppose several of the elite athletes are thinking about the association’s withdrawal strategy.
This season, World Cup venues are also more important than ever, as there may be restrictions on the number of active players on tour as a result of the ongoing pandemic.
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Getting the chance right away and starting to score points in the various cups is definitely a huge bonus in terms of continuation.
But these tickets obviously need to be given away even before someone has acted and has an overview of the way the various brokers are standing.
I’m allergic to the ever-recurring choice to put 10-20 runners out of the national team as soon as possible and shatter their dreams of being able to qualify through a cannon race or two here at the feet of Bithorn.
The opportunity to do so should be there.
It’s no good saying what a man like Martin Johnsrud Sundby thinks and feels when he stands at the starting line of Saturday’s 15-kilometer race in classic style.
Sundby, with a place on the 60s podium at the World Cup and with World Cup gold, silver and bronze at home in the awards cabinet at Makrellbekken in Oslo, was eliminated from the elite team in overall this spring with a tough season background and 25th overall. at the World Cup.
If I were Sundby, I would have been furious.
My advice is that Sundby’s adrenaline would have spiked considerably if he had realized that Eirik Myhr Nossum was willing to “go to war” so that the last two innings could only be awarded to some of the men on the national team.
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No other athlete from the best men’s nation in the world is worth bothering with, as long as they are out of the national team, apparently. Whether you need to get your breakthrough or you’re still world-class.
It is completely inconceivable.
I’m not saying that Norway should run with American retreats, where the best come from and you can’t afford to have a bad race. But I think everyone who has trained and bet as hard as the guys from Eirik Myhr Nossum and Arild Monsen, in the overall and sprint squad, should have a chance to show what they do well.
Those in the national team must endure the challenge of those pushing from behind.
Back problems meant that Sundby had to face several competitions and could not show his qualities last winter. But the ability was there, something that proved second to Pål Golberg in the three miles of NM.
Sundby is the reigning 15km world champion after his adventurous win at Seefeld in 2019. So no matter how the national team’s leadership goes round and round, Røa’s runner will be at least a distance in German Oberstdorf on next year.
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Sundby can certainly defend the World Cup gold there. And be very relevant to the relay team.
It should come as no surprise that the 36-year-old is not fighting for medals again. It is at least as good in freestyle as it is classic. There are no two great rivals, Iivo Niskanen and Alexander Bolshunov.
I hope that Sundby and other top athletes give Myhr Nossum some headaches here in Beitostølen. Sports should be exciting and fair.
May the best Norwegian team travel to Ruka.
/ Torbjörn Nordvall
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