– I was so hurt by her, so I apologized when I passed by. I noticed that I was slipping right off. It’s nice to win, but it’s boring when it turns out like that, says Ragnhild Femsteinvik to NRK after the NM biathlon relay.
Because when Femsteinvik went out on her last leg, she was three and a half minutes behind leader Juni Arnekleiv. The experts had already chosen the winner when Hordaland went in for the final shooting.
But rarely has the expression “a relay is a relay” been more appropriate.
– I probably said that Arnekleiv couldn’t lose this. But I have to stop believing that things are decided before they are, says NRK’s expert Ola Lunde.
Three penalty rounds on the last shoot
– It was fierce for the match ball I was going to get then, Arnekleiv said before she set off on the stage which many thought would be a simple matter for the elite national team runner.
But already at the first shooting on the last shooting you could sense that something was wrong. Arnekleiv had to use several extra shots, and out on the course it was late.
And on the decisive final shot, there was a complete collapse.
PASSED: Juni Arnekleiv struggled with poor skiing, poor shooting and poor form in the last race of the season, but still secured silver for Nord Østerdal.
Photo: NTB
Arnekleiv had to go out in three penalty rounds.
– I thought I should go in and be offensive. I actually felt that I was too. But it didn’t match the timing, then it becomes stupid. It becomes difficult to correct when you start with four booms.
Behind, Ragnhild Femsteinevik and Hordaland had caught up with Nordland, and when she avoided the penalty round in the last shooting, she only had 42.3 seconds up to Arnekleiv.
– I received confirmation from shooting that Juni had really bad skis. So I thought I could manage it, says Femsteinevik to NRK.
- The men’s relay starts at 2 p.m. You can see it her.
Traveling together on holiday
And when she had made up over 40 seconds and passed Arnekleiv on the ground towards the goal, Femsteinevik needed to shout at her national team friend.
UPTURN: Ragnhild Femsteinvik has had a tough season, but got a long-awaited upturn at the NM relay on Sunday.
Photo: AFP
And although she did not get an answer, Arnekleiv confirms that she heard the shout from Femsteinevik.
– Yes, I heard that. I just thought that “you can just take this one, you’ve had the rod out all season.” It’s okay, it’s deserved, she was better than me today, says Arnekleiv.
– It is of course a shame to lose first place when Maren and Eline do such good stages as they do today. But it is a team, all three must succeed, adds Arnekleiv.
On Sunday evening, the two national team runners go on holiday together after the season. At least that was the plan.
– It will be Malaga, with Ragnhild. She told me that “I hope you still want to go on holiday with me, even though I passed you on the last lap”. I said I’m a tour guide, so I decide who gets that ticket, jokes Arnekleiv.
Femsteinvik will in any case be relegated to the middle seat on the flight down, says silver medalist Arnekleiv.
– Yes, you can swear at that, she grins.
Demanding conditions
It was also a difficult day for the biathletes on the men’s side. The conditions were so demanding that the experts hardly saw them when they saw the cross-country times.
– We see that they have spent 25 minutes on the first leg. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that on a 7.5 kilometre, said Synnøve Solemdal.
– It’s back to the old days of wooden skiing on one stage. That says a lot about the difficult conditions here, said Ola Lunde.
In addition to demanding conditions on the trail, there were misses and misses at the stand. On the last stage, Tarjei Bø was around a minute and a half behind Vetle Sjåstad Christiansen. But when the latter had to go out in three penalty rounds in the last shooting, it was Bø who finally secured a superior NM gold for Sogn og Fjordane.
– I got a little hurt from him. It’s boring to stand in the wind like that. I realized that it didn’t help to wait for the wind to stop, because it never did, says Tarjei Bø about the duel with Christiansen on the last stage.
Published 07/04/2024, at 13.23 Updated 07.04.2024, at 15.42