Sweden withdraws from the World Cup in Davos and Dresden – NRK Sport – Sports news, results and broadcast schedule

– It was a difficult decision, but it has been made with athletes in mind, says a press release from the Swedish Ski Federation.

Subsequently, Sweden will make a decision on how it intends to participate in the Ski Tour.

Therefore, three of the largest cross-country nations will be absent from this year’s World Cup. In other words, there will be a heavily amputated competition at the Swiss winter sports resort Davos next weekend.

Among other things, there will be ice skating.

Sweden would have been one of the big favorites on the women’s side, while Johannes Høsflot Klæbo would have started as the clear favorite among men.

– We know that the decision generates disappointment among the assets, but also for the audience in front of the television. No matter how much we want to compete and provide entertainment, this decision seems the only correct one, says Sweden’s cross country manager Daniel Fåhraeus.

– The medical evaluation has been of great importance for our decision, he adds.

Not surprised

FIS race director Pierre Mignerey tells NRK that he is not surprised by the decision.

– We understand that with the situation of the crown in the world, people may be negative to participate, but we do everything possible to protect the safety of the participants, says Mignerey.

Finland has also done it like Norway and Sweden and lost the World Cup in 2020.

– It is not for me to announce what Finland will do. It is up to them to communicate today. Then we’ll see. No matter what Finland decides, the situation is the same. The World Cup continues in Dresden and Davos, Mignerey said before Finland’s decision was known.

– Of course it is always better to have the best athletes to start with, but it is also important that other nations continue the competition.

– So the competition will run out of so many of the best riders?

– Yes of course.

You will not take risks

On Tuesday, Norway chose

withdraw from the World Cup

in Davos and Dresden after dissatisfaction with infection control and testing in Ruka.

Most likely, Norway will also not start with athletes on this year’s Tour de Ski.

The decision was made after Johannes Høsflot Klæbo and Emil Iversen arrived on Monday with the message that they are leaving all races before Christmas.

– The way things are now, you don’t want to take chances. I have set myself a goal this year and that is to go fast in the World Cup. So I don’t want to take a bigger risk than I should, Klæbo told NRK.

– Serious consequences

On Tuesday, Fåhraeus announced that he was not ruling out that Swedish riders would abandon the World Cup races in Davos next weekend.

On Wednesday, it became clear that the Swedish athletes would not be seen at the World Cup or Davos or Dresden.

– As it seems, we cannot create an infection-free highway to and from Davos or Dresden. If things go wrong, the disease can have potentially serious consequences for the infected person. None of those involved are willing to take that risk, says Dr. Per Andersson.

National team coach Anders Byström tells NRK that they have seen different ways to travel safely, but that the risk was too great.

– We have an infection in Charlotte Kalla’s squad now, and we have seen other skiers in Sweden who have received Covid, and we will not take that risk now before the World Cup.

– It was a difficult decision, but also an easy one, because we want to take our health seriously, he says.

– Doctors from Norway, Sweden and Finland have been in close contact all the time, and our doctor says that we think the risk is too great. The fact that Norway has made its decision, it has made it for itself, and now we have made our decision. We started the discussion even before Norway made its decision, he notes.

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