– Jacob’s executioner was not injured – VG

Henrik Ingebrigtsen, 31, reveals he contracted covid-19 while sharing a room with Jakob Ingebrigtsen during training camp just before WC – and believes that spoiled his chance of qualifying for the European Commission a few weeks later.

– I don’t want to sound bitter. This, I am not. But I am frustrated and disappointed. The machine that was supposed to take care of me failed. Therefore, I will not trust him in the future, says Henrik Ingebrigtsen, referring to the Norwegian Athletics Federation.

– But I am of course happy first of all that Jacob did not become infected, as he confirms.

Norwegian Athletics Federation’s sports director Erlind Slovic says he can understand Henrik Ingbrigtsen’s frustration. He also says that two weeks ago, the association did a thorough evaluation with everyone in the toilet support system. Yesterday he had it with everyone in the European Commission support apparatus.

– I can promise you that we reviewed everything we did. You could say we could have been tougher. But at the same time we had to train and prepare. This is risky in itself, says Slokvik when faced with Henrik Ingebrigtsen’s statements.

It was the Athletics Association that organized the so-called PRISMP at Berkeley, California prior to the Eugene 15-24 Athletics Championships. July where Jacob Ingbrigtsen won the silver in the 1500m and gold in the 5000m.

By all accounts, this success was hanging by a fine thread with Henrik Ingebrigtsen’s information and experience of what happened during the lead-up to the tournament.

Four people in the Norwegian Support Service are known to have tested positive for covid-19 in Berkeley, and 800m hopeful Heda Hein did.

Henrik Ingebrigtsen was one of the four injured in the support apparatus. Here he talks about the trajectory of his positive test on Saturday, July 9, as well as what happened next — as he realized it.

Jacob and I came from Flagstaff (a residence in the Highlands) to Berkeley on July 4th, the others a day or two later. An injury to the band was revealed on Friday (July 8). I had a negative test that day, but it was positive the next morning, he says.

Until then, he and Jacob Ingbrigtsen lived in the same room. Erlend Slokvik stated that they were allotted an additional large room, with separate bedrooms and bathrooms, because Filip Ingebrigtsen was originally supposed to be accommodated with them.

Philip qualified for the 1500m World Cup but withdrew from the tournament due to problems with his hock.

– In this regard, we may have been lucky. When Henrik tested positive, Jacob was isolated, and he took the matter very quietly. I pushed him into training, and I didn’t feel there was any pressure associated with what happened, says Erlind Slovic.

Referring to IAAF national team doctor Ove Talsnes, he said it was difficult to determine when and where the infection originated. He also notes that there has been “a lot” of contagion regarding the primary and tournament championships in California and Oregon, among other things with the Swedes.

When asked how Jakob Ingbrigtsen – who tested positive in March – reacted when he was told that his older brother had tested positive, Henrik Ingbrigtsen replied “sarcastically”.

– He said “It’s Karma!” Because I’ve been away for two and a half years, I’ve been infection-free and been vaccinated three times. Then I came to the property where everything was supposed to be arranged to avoid infection, and that’s where it happened, he says.

Henrik Ingebrigtsen adds that he was planning to run the 5,000m at an event in Los Angeles on Friday 15 July – six days after his test result at Berkeley – to meet the qualification requirements for the distance to the European Athletics Championships in Munich 15-21. August.

Having succeeded, he was heading to St. Moritz to train at altitude before the tournament in Germany.

That chance and plan failed when he fell ill and fell ill.

Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Henrik Ingebrigtsen are isolated in separate rooms.

– Jacob and I tested ourselves twice every day. Henrik Ingebrigtsen says I haven’t been out of the room for about a week.

Jacob Ingbrigtsen boarded the plane north to Eugene, and Henrik Ingbrigtsen came – to the surprise of many – a few days later to work as Jacob’s handyman during the restroom. Especially in a Berkeley rental car, because after testing negative in accordance with US infection control regulations, he was unable to board the plane.

The car journey took nine hours, says Henrik Ingebrigtsen, which has been greatly reduced as a result of illness. He still hasn’t fully recovered from it, and claims it had “serious consequences” for the sport.

In Eugene, a situation arose that Henrik Ingbrigtsen describes as a contradiction. At Berkeley, as someone with the virus, he was described as someone in the support system. When asked if there was “misinformation” on the part of the association, Erlind Slovik replied that Henrik Ingbrigtsen “was indeed”. He was a training partner for Jakob Ingebrigtsen, but not among those who went to WC. It was originally going back to Europe.

– We did not want to reveal the names of (the injured). If we said one of them was an athlete who wasn’t going to the restroom, the media would have found out pretty quickly who he was, he explains.

In Eugene, the Norwegian Athletics Federation could not adopt Henrik Ingebrigtsen as part of their WC team. He had to, in his words, fix it on his own.

The Swedish Athletics Federation’s sporting director, Erlind Slovic, says now, as he did at the World Cup, that the federation You do not have multiple credits Available. They used everything given to them by the regulator.