Oslo. Two consecutive victories over Sweden in football put Norway in a trance state.
And when I sit in a rainy but crowded Bislate area, I wonder if they’re about to get into athletics, too.
Or maybe it’s already over.
Where is the world heading?
Now it was a damp night here in Bislet and those dark clouds that seem to haunt Mundo Duplantis this summer, have risen just in time for the competitions to begin.
After a glorious summer’s day, a large black cloud settled over the stadium and torrential rain fell over Mundo and the others as they were about to jump.
Mondo sat with the others waiting for the worst shower and sat down, shaking his head and laughing at the misery.
I can understand it.
After a great indoor season and a couple of new world records, the outdoor season has kicked off and it’s rained away so far.
But now he’s lucky for the first time, when he burst out and the rain stopped in time on his third and final attempt at 5.92.
Shows what the weather means for a shaft hoist.
superior as usual
Because when the worst of the dampness disappeared, he would directly reach the level where he would be the only one in the world.
First, by improving both the stadium’s record and its world year by a centimeter – from 6.01 to 6.02. Just wonderful.
Then also tried at 6.10, but then the power for Mondo was exhausted as well.
He was superior as usual, but I was still waiting for him to get him racing in perfect conditions.
I hope it will be a great Swedish summer evening when he plays his last pre-World Cup competition at the Bauhaus Gala on June 30th.
But the biggest cheers in the pole vault were Norwegians Pål Haugen Lillefosse and Sondre Guttormsen, who slipped over 5.80 on their first attempt and finished second and third in the competition.
These two made Norway talk about the staff miracle.
But there are two young players, Lilfossen just turning 21 and a Norwegian record holder with 5.85 this season and Guttormsen, 23, a new college champ in the United States, when he recently won the NCAA Final.
Both could reach the World Cup final in Eugene within a month.
Caroline Grofdal set a Norwegian record of 5,000 metres, beating the record set by 36-year-old Ingrid Christiansen by six seconds.
The clock stopped at 14:31.07 in the pouring rain.
The global superstar then finished off at home Drömmmilen’s main figure of the world’s best year 3:46.46. Norwegian record with.
There is nothing better here than hitting the Swede
Yes, it didn’t end there, when the Norwegian ladies set a 4×400 record in a relay that was played as an extra when the telecast ended.
Yes, it is not as easy to be Swede in these times and to be full of victorious Norwegians as I was in Oslo two days ago.
It seems that every inhabitant of this country has grown a few centimeters after those double victories against Sweden in the League of Nations.
There is nothing better here than beating one Swede, and even better than beating eleven at the same time.
Now Norway has an athletics miracle underway as well, with many coming behind ultimate world stars such as Karsten Warholm and Jakob Ingbrigtsen.
And when I asked competition captain and old high jumper Steinar Hoen, he replied:
We have now switched to football, golf and tennis and I don’t think Norway will be without a chance in the “Finnish fight” against Sweden in athletics either. We have a lot of them that are on their way up, especially in running. I would like to see an international match against Sweden.
The only question is if that’s even possible, because they assume it’s better to be involved and they usually have more important things to think about in the summer of athletics.
At the Olympics in Tokyo last summer, Sweden and Norway ended up splitting positions in the medal league with two gold and one silver in athletics.
But historically, Sweden has been superior in athletics.
These two Olympic gold medals in Tokyo were “only” the eighth and ninth for Norway ever.
Sweden took in twice that number – or 21.
But Norwegian athletes are hot right now.
on all levels.
I must give it to them.
