OSLO / STOCKHOLM (VG) Casper Ruud in the French Open final. Norway, a winter sports nation, has been turned upside down in the past five years.
We now encourage the best Norwegian players in world sports such as athletics, golf, football and tennis. It hurts the Swedes…
“It’s so great that we now have so many Norwegians claiming to be at the top of the world in big summer sports at the same time,” Warholm Leif coach Olaf Allnes told VG.
In the past five years, after Karsten Warholm’s World Cup gold in 2017, five men suddenly reached the highest level in global summer sports:
- Casper Road (23) plays Sunday French Open Finals. He’s made crazy jumps in the world rankings, which are very important in tennis. On Sunday, he will play for the first time in the finals of a Grand Slam tournament. He had never made it past the fourth round in these bigger tournaments before.
- Karsten Warholm (26) Season one in Morocco on Sunday. He copied the World Cup gold in 2019. Then he became an Olympic champion and set a seemingly inhumane world record in 2021 – even taking home the title of best year in athletics, regardless of practice.
- Jacob Ingbrigtsen (21) He already ran fast in 2022. He took gold at the European Championships at the age of 17 in 2018 and followed him up in 2021 with Olympic gold in the 1500m after beating Timothy Cheruiyot for the first time – 3.28.32. He holds the world record for 1,500 meters indoors.
- Erling Braut Haaland (21) plays Sunday against Sweden. He is one of the most attractive footballers in the world and will play from next season with England champions Manchester City. The first teenager to score in five consecutive Champions League matches. The best scorer in the Champions League 2020/2021.
- Victor Hovland (24) He plays in the PGA Championship this weekend. He scored six wins as a professional golfer. It ranked third in the world and in March came close to making the move to become the world’s number one. Currently 12th place (US Open 2019 and British Open 2021) as the best place in the so-called Grand Slams (tied for a Grand Slam in tennis).
A few years earlier, he also paved the way for other notable athletes in major “non-winter” sports:
- Magnus Carlsen when he became the world chess champion in 2010 – and three years later the world champion. He has defended this title four times.
- Alexander Del Owen became the world champion in the prestigious 100-meter breaststroke in 2011. A little more than a year later, he passed away during a training camp in the United States, at the age of only 26 years.
- Ada Hegerberg won the Champions League for the first time with Lyon in 2016. She followed that up by being named the best female footballer in Europe and eventually the best female footballer in the world. But Carolyn Graham Hansen is also at the top level a hero It’s not new to Norwegian women who dominate world football: Hege Reis was named the tournament’s best player when Norway won the World Cup in 1995.
Martin Odegaard also paved the way, when he was brought in by Real Madrid when he was 16 and this spring was Arsenal’s captain. On Saturday, he was asked about the Norwegian wave of new Norwegian authenticity – and with Casper Ruud in the final on the same day as Norway plays Sweden in football:
– He inspires us, the young Norwegian is at such a big stage in doing what he does.
– very dedicated
When VG asked about “what’s with you – the new generation” – Ødegaard answered:
– I don’t know…especially when there are so many of the same age who stand out in different sports. I don’t know why, but I feel that many of those who have come now have something special about them. They are very professional and give a lot of their lives to the sport and they are very dedicated. Then there is a greater chance of success. It has to do with the mentality and attitude, and the professionalism that many who come here have.
National Team Manager Ståle Solbakken believes they are part of community development.
Individual mentality, you have a lot of reflexes. It’s not just the coach, but the agents, other coaches, social media…that characterizes this generation differently than before. There is no selfishness, everyone sacrifices for each other. And here is the basis for moving forward and getting closer, for example, to Sweden.
salt in the wound
Christopher Bergstrom is a Swedish, Aftonbladet commentator – and hooks up with the guy VG to hear more about how you feel in a country that has world-class stars in tennis, golf and other world sports:
So you have to sprinkle salt on the wound now, before the French Open final…
– we will …
– This painful. I won’t pretend to be anything else. And it’s not a small needle stab, but more like a furious cut after 200 meters of the Tromsø marathon – it hurts more all the time. Where the hell did he come from? Bergstrom says about Casper Rudd, why can’t he cross skate, so we don’t worry.
If you continue in the same way, in a couple of years you will have started creating a furniture warehouse so cheap and elegant that it is driving IKEA into bankruptcy.
– Think larger!
Liv Olaf Alnes is in Morocco where Karsten Warholm will start the season on Sunday.
– I hope this will motivate children and young adults to dream big and to consider Henry Ford’s famous quote: “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you are right!” , Alnes reported to VG.
Note: Dennis Hoeger is on his way to becoming the next Norwegian on the list – as one of the best players in Formula 2, having risen before Formula 1. No Norwegian has ever competed in a Formula 1 World Cup.
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