Skiing | Nine Norwegians in the top ten: “It can’t get any worse”

World champion Emil Iversen suggested a blunt cutter to curb Norway’s dominance.

Norwegian men’s skiers apparently set a world record on Friday, if one country’s dominance in the World Cup is taken as a measure.

Triple win, nine Norwegians in the top ten and all 12 skiers in the top 19.

Norway’s number one Johannes Høsflot Klæbo wasn’t even there because of a sore throat, and he was replaced by a quick command Henrik Donnestad finished 15th.

That sums up the balance of Norwegians.

The only non-Norwegian to reach the top ten was the fourth-placed Briton Andrew Musgravewho has lived in Norway for a long time and speaks the Norwegian language fluently.

Norwegian the width of the peak and the raw mutual competition is not news, but now it was shown in an extreme way, when the country was allowed to enter the Lillehammer 10 km (v) competition, in addition to the normal six-skier mc quota, six more men in the host country’s national quota.

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The dominance of the Norwegians was emphasized by the fact that Iivo Niskanen was absent due to corona infection and the Russians are on the sidelines for the time being.

For comparison: Finland also had 12 men on the track last weekend in Ruka. In the 10th (p) competition, the best Finn finished 12th Perttu Hyvärinen and in addition, only the skier who had the best early season of his career reached the top 20 Lauri Lepistö (18:s).

Norway’s dominance in men’s skiing has already raised concerns about the sport’s narrow international competitive situation in many quarters, and it no longer inspires enthusiasm in Norway either, where the sport’s popularity has declined, at least based on TV viewership figures.

“Absolutely crazy. This was almost like the Norwegian Cup”, stated the long-time sports expert of the Norwegian broadcasting company NRK Torgeir Bjorn.

“This not a good thing, but we knew how to expect this. This can’t get any worse,” said the reigning 50 km world champion Emil Iversenwhich placed 12th.

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Iversen threw out the idea of ​​a dull cutter that would make the situation look less ugly. In his opinion, the national quota could be thrown away.

“There is no reason to bring more than six skiers here. It was good for me today, because otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to compete,” Iversen told NRK.

Third place world champion Hans Christer Holund disagreed with Iversen about the necessity of a national quota.

“It’s a carrot for those who compete in the Norwegian Cup. I don’t think it should be removed,” Holund said.

Holundkin admitted that the superiority of the Norwegians does not look good.

“But it must be said that one strong country is not included, so under normal circumstances we would not see nine Norwegians in the top ten,” Holund said to NRK, referring to the Russians.

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