[ad_1]
Norway have Pål Golberg, Emil Iversen, Hans Christer Holund and Johannes Høsflot Klæbo in the World Cup relay.
This means that silver in 30 km and 15 km was not enough to secure Simen Hegstad Krüger a place in the team. There was also no bronze in the WC debut for Harald Østberg Amundsen.
– I can say that it is brutal to be destroyed with two medals in the two distance races that have been, Krüger tells NRK on Thursday afternoon.
– Disappointed?
– Of course I’m disappointed. I was hoping to take a step. I mean, I deserve a place there. Then it turns out that there are two fantastic classics riders who have shown extreme skills heading into the championship, who can also do a good job. It’s a twisted thing, he admits.
Difficult decision
Krüger says the accident was made known to him in a conversation with coach Nossum on Wednesday night.
– He was honest about it and said it like it was. Of course I was hoping for a scenario. But based on the signals he had received beforehand, he was prepared for it. I understood that Hans Christer was going to go on stage when he became world champion. So I was hoping they would have room for a double silver medalist. I don’t know if it has happened before, but it has, he says.
– It is a difficult decision, says Eirik Myhr Nossum.
– Simen is obviously fit, he has two medals and there is a field that suits him. It is multifactorial to eliminate such a team, and I said before the championship that I would not reject a world champion in 15 km freestyle in the third stage. Hans Christer Holund will be world champion, and then there is no doubt that he will enter there, explains the coach of the national team.
BRUTAL: Simen Hegstad Krüger, Hans Christer Holund and Harald Østberg Amundsen wallpaper the 15km podium, but unfortunately for two of them there was only one free skating stage in the relay team.
Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB
Iversen: – Brutal to be a skier.
Nossum tells NRK that Krüger was also evaluated against a classic stage, but the conclusion was that Iversen and Golberg were stronger alternatives based on what they have achieved so far this winter.
– It is brutal to be a skier here in the valley, admits his teammate Emil Iversen.
In practice, Tuesday’s 15km was a purely American take on stage three, which the national team coach, Eirik Myhr Nossum, announced in advance.
– That was the team I tipped. It’s about the overall composition of the team, and that Norway has shown good skaters so far in the championship, says NRK expert commentator Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen.
Klæbo meets Bolshunov
The first two stages are classic in style.
– Golberg and Iversen have been better at the classic all season, says Jacobsen.
So even two World Cup silvers are not enough to represent Norway in the relay.
– When Johannes Høsflot Klæbo has one of the skating stages and is the finalist, there will be no place for Krüger and Amundsen, he says.
In the final stage, Klæbo meets, among others, Aleksand Bolshunov. The Russian team is configured like this: Alexei Chervotkin, Ivan Yakimushkin, Artem Maltsev and Bolshunov.
