LILLEHAMMER (VG) Tokyo hero Birgit Skarstein (32) does not expect to win medals when the water is replaced with snow in the para-WC, which starts in Lillehammer on Thursday.
The gold winner from rowing in the Paralympics this summer is ready when VG asks if she has medal ambitions for the championship:
– No I have not. It’s a bit silly to ski the World Cup now just a few months after Tokyo. The sharpening required to go for the gold in the Paralympics excludes all other ambitions. For the past two years, I’ve only been thinking about rowing in Tokyo. I have set up training and life to perform as a rower. Therefore, I do not expect to take medals here in Lillehammer.
– So rowing is something other than skiing?
– That’s it! I was admittedly on a trip with Øystein “Pølsa” Pettersen the other day, and we talked about how I could optimize skiing based on my “calm body” and “calm muscles”. It is possible to make some compromises there, but it is of course not optimal. Then we’ll see what comes out of it.
Skarstein still hopes to get to a new Paralympics – and this time on snow. It is held in Beijing right after the Olympics.
– I met the international requirement already two years ago. It still applies. But I have to claim the Norwegian requirement, which is two top 12 or one top 6 position.
– The goal for me is therefore to meet the Paralympics requirement, says the Trøndelag native.
She left the nation at its feet with the gold the track in Tokyo.
– The consequence of the choice to give everything for the gold there, is that I have given myself worse conditions to do well on skis. But I’m fine with that, Skarstein grins.
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As a socially engaged person, she therefore begins to talk about that she is worried about the pressure that young people experience, that they must constantly measure themselves against people who are good in such different areas.
– The reality is that if you are going to be really good at something, then you have to prioritize, choose what you want to get really good at. And then you have to opt out of a number of other things. .
– At the same time, it means that I go with low shoulders into the championship here. I have also been quite ill this autumn, but I would like to be part of the World Cup on Norwegian snow.
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Many of the foremost Norwegian hopes will be in action on the first day of the para-WC. Jesper Saltvik Pedersen will drive downhill in Hafjell, and Vilde Nilsen will go cross-country skiing in Lillehammer.
Crown Prince Haakon and Princess Märtha Louise will visit the championship on Thursday. The Para-WC has been postponed for one year as a result of the pandemic. Now it’s finally ready for alpine skiing, cross country skiing, biathlon and snowboarding. This is the first time there is a common para-WC for all those disciplines.
The WC lasts until 23 January. NRK will broadcast 90 hours from the silent snow sports party, where just over 40 nations are represented.
Norges tropp
Alpine:
Marcus Graasto Nilsson, Ready.
Hanne Vadseth, Ready.
Marte Pensgaard Hansen, Plogen Ski Club (companion).
Jesper Saltvik Pedersen, Plogen Ski Club.
Magnus Valø Balche, Ready.
Biathlon:
Nils-Erik Ulset, Tingvoll Idrettslag.
Snowboard:
Niklas Bøyesen Lohne-Hansen, KIF Snowboard.
Cross Country:
Andreas Bjørnstad, Svelvik IF.
Indira Liseth, TIF Viking.
Kjartan Haugen, Fossum IF.
Isabell Valen, Innstrandens IL.
Vilde Nilsen, Kvaløysletta Skilag.
Thomas Karbøl Oxaal, Sauda IL.
Ole-Martin Lid, Tomrefjord IL (companion).
Trygve Toskedal Larsen, IL Trysilgutten.
Birgit Skarstein, Frol IL.
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