ÖSTERSUND / OSLO (VG) There was no jubilee day for the Norwegian girls, who were literally crushed by competitors on the track. Terrell Eckhoff calls it a collective failure.
– Today was a team failure, and it wasn’t fun. Eckhoff tells VG that it wasn’t fun to start either and to see the girls were so late.
Most of the spectators had left the field when the 31-year-old finished with a starting number of 111, among the last start.
Last season’s World Cup winner started the season here in Östersund with 30th (regular), 28th (sprint) and now – the worst result of the season – 32nd (sprint).
And there’s also a reason Eckhoff had to start last: She has the fewest World Cup points for Norwegians, and wasn’t high on Thursday:
Ingrid Landmark Tandrifold (25) had no day on the track and was 1 minute 23 seconds behind Austrian Lisa Therese Hauser, who won the race in Östersund.
I don’t feel where I should be and that’s a bit disappointing for me. Tandrifold says I’m not sure why the physical form doesn’t exist.
The pregnancy was, among other things, one minute and eleven full seconds late this afternoon, Swedish Elvira Oberg, despite the fact that the Swedish girl also had two babies.
-Firing, I know what I’m doing wrong, but then I can’t make the change I want to make. I know this can change from day to day, says the 25-year-old.
In the last round, she was beaten by more than 22 seconds by Elvira Oberg.
While NRK commentators speculate if something is wrong with the skates, Marte Olsbu Røiseland shrugs when asked if this is the fault of the skates.
– She was very special. I have no idea what happened in four days that suddenly made me go like this on the right track. The worst thing is that it feels good, but I get negative reviews all the time. Olsbu Røiseland tells VG I’m a little dumbfounded like that and have no more good explanations for it.
At the same time, she says she “doesn’t want to speculate much” and that she “should talk to the team” to find out what happened.
– I have no idea, she answers questions about what it could be.
Olsbu Røiseland finished Norway’s best with 12th place.
And Tyrell Eckhoff wasn’t even close to stepping into the lead. One spurt on every shot is one thing, but she was the fastest in most sprints last season, now defeated by one minute on the track by Elvira Öberg. 19 runners went faster than Eckhoff.
She eventually finished nearly a minute and 22 seconds behind Hauser.
Thus, the Norwegians face a roundabout task during the start of the hunt on Sunday.
– The Norwegian Lubricants may be having a bad day at work. I hardly remember the last time, says NRK commentator Andreas Stabrun Smith of the Norwegian collective failure.
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