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Narve Gilje Nordås took a tough decision when training mate Per Svela was scrapped from the cross-country European Championships – and gets partial understanding from Jakob Ingebrigtsen.
– I have no problem understanding the disappointment of not being selected. I know several people like you, and I would hardly have taken it with a smile myself, says Jakob Ingebrigtsen in a statement to VG.
Earlier Tuesday, it became known that Narve Gilje Nordås hhas withdrawn from the EC cross-country race after training mate Per Svela was wrecked. Afterwards, Nordås spoke out against the leadership of the Swedish Athletics Federation in an interview with NRK.
Narve Gilje Nordås
– The last place was between Filip (Ingebrigtsen) and (Per) Svela. When he takes out a better comrade and colleague in front of one who has objectively proven better form. It’s such a corrupt management that I can’t accept it, Nordås added NRK.
The runner believes assistant sports director Håvard Tjørhom is too close to the Ingebrigtsen brothers. Both Nordås and Svela are trained by Gjert Ingebrigtsen.
Trust is so low that Nordås wants all dialogue to go through sporting director Erlend Slokvik.
– I think corrupt is a very strong word and definitely not something I recognize myself in, says Tjørholm to VG and adds:
– It is not unnatural that there will be some discussion about withdrawals. Especially perhaps in the EC cross-country race. But I don’t recognize myself as being corrupt.
Håvard Tjorhom
Assistant sports manager in the Swedish Athletics Federation
Jakob Ingebrigtsen has caught on to the conflict and says it is quite common to disagree on team selection.
– So you are also completely allowed to disagree with the team selection, but then you talk to the people in charge about it. If for various reasons you do not wish to participate, this should be done internally before the withdrawal is communicated. When the team is announced, you respect it, says the Olympic champion, who is naturally a gold favorite also in the cross-country EC.
– I am very proud to represent Norway in the off-road EC, I would like everyone to see it like this. We will field a strong team in Turkey. The competition for places has never been fiercer. That says a bit about what we have achieved on the running front in recent years. We are becoming a running nation, not just a couple of runners who simply deliver results.
It was last Saturday that Nordås and Per Svela ran in Lille to qualify for the EC cross-country team. Nordås ran into fifth place. Svela was number 16.
Nordås believes Svela has objectively shown better form than Filip Ingebrigtsen this autumn. He points out that Svela ran 10 kilometers in 28.16 in Lille and took NM silver behind Nordås at the Hytteplanmila.
– The selection is based entirely on professional assessments that one can agree or disagree with, and I have full confidence in the assessment that Håvard Tjørhom has made in consultation with other sports management, including sports management, says Friidrettsforbundet’s general secretary Kjetil Hildeskor in a statement to VG.
– I fully understand that practitioners experience disappointment and express this, but I have the hope that it will be possible to talk together about any disagreements, rather than throwing around claims, which I first of all perceive that you an expression of frustration. We again want to initiate a new dialogue with Nordås in order to find a constructive form for further cooperation, he adds.
Filip Ingebrigtsen has so far not said anything about the European Championship selection.
- The EC cross-country race will be held in Antalya on Sunday, December 8.
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