According to the Norwegian public broadcasting company NRK, everything new is perceived as scary.
Swedish the national team skiers accuse the Norwegians of spying on their tactics meeting, Swedish newspaper Expressen and a Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet tell.
The situation that caused the uproar happened on Friday during the sprint race of the World Cup in Trondheim, where the preliminaries of the 2025 World Cup in skiing will be competed at the weekend.
The Swedish sprinters were going through tactics when a microphone suddenly appeared above them.
“We kept getting quieter and finally didn't say anything,” Moa Lundgren tells Expressen.
“They wanted to know what we were talking about, but we don't want anyone watching the games at home or any Norwegians to know what we're talking about.”
Frida Karlsson jokes the spies sent by the Norwegian media.
“Part of our team reacted to it, but I wasn't one of them,” adds Karlsson.
To blame revealed the Norwegian broadcasting company NRK. Head of the company's World Cup project Janne Fredriksen tells Dagbladet that he thinks it's great that the matter is being talked about.
“Our aim is for the viewers to get closer. We try new things in the preliminaries of the World Cup so that we can raise the public's interest,” Fredriksen explains.
“We believe that voice is one such way. Imagine how exciting it would have been to hear what the Swedish athletes were talking about and then listen to the Norwegians as well.”
Head coach of the Swedish national skiing team Anders Byström tells Expressen that he will take the matter forward.
“I don't want this to happen. No one asked us for permission, and I think they should have done that in situations like this,” he says.
“We talk about important things there, such as Kristine Stavås of Skistad of winning. Imagine if the Norwegian team can hear that on the radio.”
Frida Karlsson jokes that the Norwegian media sent spies to the Swedish tactics meeting on Friday in Trondheim. Picture from Ruka's World Cup.
First noticed by the microphone Moa Ilar tried to get his teammates away from the microphone, according to Dagbladet.
He says that he was not happy with the appearance of the microphone at the meeting. Maja Dahlqvist believes that Swedes need to start speaking in codes to confuse competitors.
“If they do it to eavesdrop on us, then I think the game is dirty,” Dahlqvist adds.
According to Dagbladet, the Norwegian camp treated the situation calmly.
“We have to endure it. It's just fun”, the coach of the Vuono County sprint national team Arild Monsen says to Dagbladet.
NRK's Fredriksen says that he knew how to expect a discussion around the topic.
“Everything new is a bit scary. I hope they are open to this and understand that the purpose is to develop the sport.”
Women's Norway's Kristine Stavås Skistad skied ahead of the Swedes to win the sprint on Friday Linn Svahnia and Emma Ribomia.
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