The play in Norway after the departure of Frida Carlson and Maja Dalqvist
Yesterday came the news that Frida Karlsson and Maja Dalqvist had left the national team.
This news sparked reactions in Norway.
– It’s a sign of Sweden’s national team system illness and a hazard for Swedish women’s cross-country skiing, NRK expert Torgeir Björn tells VG.
The news hit like a bombshell Monday night when the Swedish Ski Association announced it Frieda Carlson And the Maja Dalqvist She has not signed drivers’ agreements and will therefore not train with the national team this season.
It is not about the agreement itself. We were willing to compromise, we could spend more days at home and maybe skip camp, so we don’t need any compensation. Following the message, Carlson told Sportbladet that we are very disappointed.
The decision made headlines at home, but Norway also sparked a backlash.
It’s a sign of disease in the Swedish national team system and dangerous for Swedish women’s cross-country skiing. It’s renewed, says Torger Björn, expert at NRK for VG and continues:
When it comes to sports, it’s now that the big stars are standing on their own feet instead of training and developing each other. Plus, that’s bad news considering the national team sponsors.
“You don’t have to be too dramatic.”
Former Norwegian skier Niklas Derhog, who is now an expert on Fiaplay, believes this will affect cross-country skiing in the future.
– I think it could be the start of a new era for cross-country skiing and the World Cup. We see that there are many special teams in long-distance running where there is a lot of money. Niklas Dehauge says that with good people around you, there’s no problem getting particularly good training, and he continues:
The big advantage of being part of the national team is that you have the ability to predict withdrawals, but if you are good enough you will be selected (for competitions) anyway.
Height coach Lars Oberg isn’t worried, however, that the national team will be out contested by other players as in the Long Distance Cup.
– You don’t have to be too dramatic. It’s happened before in both Norway and Sweden (skaters have broken out). The thing now is that we have a lot of talented skaters who have been given commercial opportunities to make their own arrangements. It’s good that we’re up against competition. But it is the paradigm that we have that has made us successful and I find it hard to see that we should completely break it.