– That’s not a good thing – VG

ZHANGJIAKOU (VG) Therese Johaug (33) received the big gold medal in China. Behind her, she ranked eighth in the sprint and thirteenth best distance in the Norwegian women at the Olympics.

At the age of three thousand, Johaug has completed a very impressive championship streak since she came back after a doping judgment. At WC 2019, WC 2021 and the 2022 Olympics, I cut all the gold medals separately: three miles, 15 kilometers and 10 kilometers.

But behind her, the Olympic results in China were very heavy. 8th place by Meiken Kaspersen Vala, 9th place for Tyrell Odnis Wing in the sprint and 13th place for Lotta Odniss Wing in the 30km are the best results along with Johog.

– That’s not a good thing, that’s, Terrell Odnes Wing tells VG and Norwegian media three miles away.

There, she and her sister ended up behind Johog by more than six minutes. Ragnhild Haga was the last Norwegian hope to start, but she finished seven minutes short of the winner.

I imagined it might take ten minutes, but it’s still a long time, says Terrell of his own efforts.

Heidi Wing and Ann Kjersti Calva contracted coronavirus a few weeks before the Olympics, and they never made it to China. At the same time, Ingvild Flugstad Østberg missed the Olympics due to the lack of an approved health certificate.

Vossholm went on a training stint in the run-up to the game with weaker results than last season.

– I don’t think we should paint it black. Heidi and Ann Kjersty sit at home and leave after a walk. I think we can quickly change this on other tracks and with more Norwegians in the beginning, says Haga, who like most Norwegians thought the Olympic tracks were “brutal.”

Three Miles Sunday was the last Olympic race of Juhuge’s career. After that, coach Ole Morten Iversen has yet to explain what he thinks about the future of Norwegian women’s cross-country skiing.

– You answered that earlier in the tournament. Now I’m very happy on behalf of Therese three miles away, and we’re now on our way home. We can take up this discussion later. I have thoughts about it, but I don’t feel able to say anything reasonable about it, he said annoyed.

In the Olympics, it’s the medals that count, not the average score. One might wonder why it doesn’t chop better for some, but we’ve won three gold medals, Iverson concludes.

In addition to the strong results, on the Norwegian scale for cross-country skiers, the Olympic Games were marked by noise. Many of the racers reacted to cross-country coach Espen Bierwigs commenting on the women behind Juhaug, while Falla was out to get ready. Coach Ole Morten Iversen believes that much of the “noise” is made by the media.

Calva has also criticized the Norwegian Ski Association for its treatment after contracting the coronavirus. She wanted to go to China, but stated that the national team management suddenly didn’t want her on a trip anyway.

After the season ends, the plan and results will be evaluated.

– I guess it’s just sitting in a room and being really honest. There is probably more noise in the media than in the camp. We do after each season, so I hope people are being honest, says Terrell Odense-Wing.

After five short miles yesterday, with the men running “only” 28.4 kilometers, Hans Christer Holland was clear that one must dare to ask tough questions after the Olympics.

Norwegian men won two bronze medals in the distance race at the Olympics.

We must realize that there are those who are better than us and more prepared. We’ve met well for many years, and in that tournament here, as a team, we’ve performed very poorly. There is no point in explaining it. That’s how it is. We have to evaluate and see what we can do to elevate ourselves, says Holland, who believes the lack of altitude training has been critical to the team’s efforts.

– We’ve had something called covid for two years, which means we were young in height. It’s an assessment of the risk, or the risk of getting sick, or exercising in Norway with better infection control in the hope that it’s good enough. We’ve been doing really well in recent years training in the lowlands, but ideally we should have been more on top. I think so, then.