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WHEN A tired Heidi Weng leaves the World Cup races in Ruka because she doesn’t feel like competing anymore in all the fuss, no one but her is disappointed. It’s been a long time since Heidi shattered the glittering image of a sports hero. Not because it wasn’t bright enough, but because it’s never been bright.
There is not much made up by this girl. That is probably why hardly any Norwegian sports hero has been surrounded by such a large and loyal audience.
At times, all the support this national cheerleading gang receives can be oppressive. In the imagination, the expectations of others can exceed what is humanly possible to meet with the help of a pair of skis and poles.
But it is in the imagination.
The sporting adversity in which Heidi has once again found herself embroiled holds up well to her large local crowd.
There is much more than sports for this audience. That is again the only thing that counts that Heidi herself is fine.
And that is exactly what she is really the first to understand.
You were never a failure
THE It hasn’t been much more than a year since he returned to the top of the world on the ski slope since the last intense sporting period. It lasted much longer than this little adversity in Ruka.
Even then, there was a mismatch between emotions off the track and results on the track. But few took adversity as wisely as Heidi. It was then that the Swedish Express featured her as “Skiverden’s Greatest Riddle” with a resume containing 4 World Cup golds, two World Cup wins in total, and two Tour de Ski wins:
– Now she slides and doesn’t seem to care that much. Number one or 81? Does not matter. Heidi Weng keeps laughingwrote the Expressen commenter.
She hadn’t realized how frustrated Heidi was also from the long-term lack of form, but she had definitely gotten the point. It is important to distinguish between everyday sports and life in general.
At least as much as you can.
Weng draws attention: after texting the Finnish star
Y that’s exactly what Heidi fixed when the results were the worst. Then she told me how nice this difficult period had been for her in terms of skiing results.
In the midst of adversity, he saw more clearly what mattered. That getting on skis and gliding down the track was really the best he knew. That traveling to beautiful ski resorts and meeting good ski friends was much more important than always competing at the top of the results list.
MAYBE It is those truths that they realize more and more the more they compete. Heidi Weng is only 29 years old, but she has been there for the past decade when female skiers established themselves as by far the biggest stars in Norwegian sport.
In hindsight, that market position is understandable. In that band, there have been individual practitioners who have done much more than the PR consultants recommend; that is to say, the old trick of «offer».
A couple of them have been endlessly honest about life for better or for worse, thereby attracting a local audience that far exceeds the usual sports market.
That’s like Heidi.
NOW he’s having a hard time and it’s understandable. The season premiere of the cross-country circus in Ruka amid these crown times is a thing of the past with strict medical safety measures, unknown isolation of the corridors and all the uncertainty about the infection.
Heidi has been affected by this health crisis:
– I don’t have my head completely in place. Then it will be like thisexplained the foul in yesterday’s sprint.
Fight to compete amid all this insecurity. The happy life as a cross-country skier no longer seems to fit reality.
The truth about the damage
THE it is fundamentally healthy in such a reaction. Where the best sports like a happy entertainment industry can have a role for many amid the shutdown of society, it is good for athletes who are not just juggling without thinking about what is going on.
This latest crisis has shown that the Norwegian sports movement has largely succeeded in upholding these social values. Few have been enough themselves.
That health characterizes the work that goes on around the cross-country elite. One by one, the best skiers are served when it rains. This is how these personal difficulties also speak of a top-tier Norwegian sport that manages to follow the highest standard. That winning medals does not become a cynical industry.
A perfect role model
HEIDI WENG You can hardly get more help and consideration than the environment of this national team gives you. Now everything is arranged so that she returns to compete with the world elite just when it suits her.
So what seems dramatic around one or two ski slopes isn’t a particular crisis either.
Norway is not very fond of skiing or its sport.
NOTE: Unsurprisingly, Therese Johaug was even stronger than Swedish rivals Frida Karlsson and Ebba Anderson. The 21-second margin of victory in the 10km classic was solid. This remote start to the World Cup also saw a rebound for Tiril Udnes Weng in seventh place. With juniors Helene Marie Fossesholm in ninth place and Tiril’s twin sister Lotta Udnes Weng at number 14, the generational change is well under way in Norwegian women’s cross country.
Swedish campaign against Johaug
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