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100 days before it breaks loose in Granåsen, the World Cup hope is still alive for a large number of Trønder runners.
– I have said that my chance of getting to the WC is one percent, and that is still the law. But I have the works as an ambition or goal to go to Granåsen. I’m not stupid, and I know the facts. My goal – my WC – this season is the Vasaloppet.
– But you have heard that very many people want to see you at the start during the WC?
– So, you’re the only thing people talk about when I’m stopped on the street. People seem to have decided that I shell to the WC. But it’s the same with my fans as with Trump’s well-wishers – they don’t deal with reality, grins Petter Northug.
Tuesday is 100 days until the World Ski Championships start in Granåsen.
– If everyone on the national team is knocked out by a new pandemic, and all those behind the national team fail – then I’m there, jokes the old ski king.
Even if, after all solemerker, it will be without Petter Northug at the start, the championship is an obvious goal for all the five Trønder national team runners.
Tight eye of the needle
But it’s not just Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, Anne Kjersti Kalvå, Even Northug, Julie Myhre and Didrik Tønseth who see a WC participant in the mirror when they get up for a new training day.
More than twice as many runners from Trønder are outside the national team – with an ambition and a goal to go to Granåsen.
– While many feel that they are in a defensive position towards the WC selection, I just have everything to win, says Vegard Sivertsgård.
The 26-year-old from Ålen is part of the regional team Team Elon Midt-Norge.
– I know that the eye of the needle is narrow, and that there are many who have dreamed of those places. But the WC has given me extra motivation all summer and autumn, he says.
– Can work like a dream
The regional team’s coach, Kristian Skrødahl, is responsible for a total of six runners, all of whom have an ambition to participate in the WC. He hopes to bring three runners to the championship.
– I will be disappointed if Jan Tomas Jenssen does not compete in the WC. He is perhaps the furthest forward in the queue of our runners together with Marte Skaanes. In addition, Hanne Wilberg Rofstad, Øyvind Håbrekke, Vegard Sivertsgård and Berit Mogstad have ambitions for the WC.
– Had the WC on home soil not been in the pot when I quit the national team last year, it is not certain that I would have continued. But now I’m more motivated than I’ve ever been. I have been looking forward to this championship for five years, says Marte Skaanes.
– For people on the outside it may seem like a dream, but for me it’s an ambition. It has done something with the awareness of what I carry out every day. The WC has set a completely new standard for the whole year, and provided great motivation in everyday training, says Mogstad.
The 31-year-old is from Surnadal, but represents Strindheim IL.
From the circuit team, Haakon Skaanes also flags that he has the WC as his goal.
– It’s very hairy, but a goal I just have to set myself. There is a small percentage chance of that happening, but I won’t be directly disappointed if it happens, he says.
– It can work
Men’s five-mile ice skating on tough tracks in Granåsen. It puts a strong damper on the World Cup ambitions of Trønder cross-country skiers like Ole Jørgen Bruvoll. But on the women’s side, the situation is somewhat different.
Coach Chris Jespersen announces several WC candidates in the private team team Aker Dæhlie.
– All the girls on my team are sure to stand up and think “it’s possible” to get to the World Cup, and are motivated by that thought in training. This also applies to everyone on our all-round team.
Jespersen’s message means that all the three Øyre Slind sisters can be included in Adresseavisen’s overview.
– A chance I won’t get again
While the twins Astri and Silje are on the cross-country team, Kari Øyre Slind is the one of the three on the all-round team for Aker Dæhlie. After two weak seasons, she has a clear goal of going to Granåsen.
– My thoughts go to Granåsen quite often, and I also think it is a realistic goal. It will flap violently, but I know it’s not impossible. Going to the World Cup on home soil is a chance I won’t get again, so I just have to give everything to try to experience it.
Sprinter Ane Appelkvist Stenseth is at least as ready:
– I have the ambition to be on the starting line in the World Cup, and that is in my mind at every training session. It is more difficult to get something bigger than a World Cup in the backyard. I have put in many good sessions in the facility where the championship should be and designed training sessions based on what awaits.
– Have to convince quite violently
When asked what the WC candidate’s road to the championship should look like, the answer is roughly the same from everyone outside the national team:
It must be going really fast already from the first stave roof during the season opening at Beitostølen. The performance must then be followed up during the Norwegian Cup at Gålå the weekend after, in order to secure a place on the national quota during the World Cup races at Lillehammer on the first weekend in December.
As the recruiting national team’s Andreas Fjorden Ree puts it:
– A runner like me has to convince quite violently compared to those on the national team.
I must go fast in every ski race I compete in, and be clear among the best. If I don’t have excellent me before Christmas, then the WC train has gone.
While the eye of the needle is very narrow on the men’s side, the perception is that there are a few more possibilities on the women’s side.
– I see that there are opportunities, that’s why I dare to say it, says Berit Mogstad.
– I’m guessing that many of you have done a good job this summer and autumn, so it will be exciting to see where you stand at Beito, says Ane Appelkvist Stenseth.
– I won’t be a podium candidate at Beito after it didn’t work out for me earlier this fall. I must have a little ice in my stomach and make good choices – then an opportunity will present itself if you get in pretty good shape. Anyway, I’m not giving up on the WC until the NM is over, says Kari Øyre Slind.
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