At the same time, Skistad says that she and trainer Lage Sofienlund “continue exactly as before”, staying at Konnerud and training as they have been doing.
– From a sporting point of view, it will be exactly the same as previous years, but you get to contribute a little to the national team on the market side and hopefully Norway will be better equipped for next season, she says to NRK who mentioned the matter only on Friday.
VG has been in contact with Skistad. She refers to what she has said to NRK where she says that she recently received a “dream offer” which she chose to accept on Thursday.
Coach Lage Sofienlund says Skistad gets full freedom in terms of sport and answers the following when asked if she is going to any national team gatherings:
– No, he says to VG.
Make Sofienlund
Trainer for Kristine Stavås Skistad
He continues:
– She has complete freedom. She continues just as before sportingly. It’s “click” the same as it has been. She will be at home with the team at Konnerud, have me as coach and continue with the same training philosophy. But she enters the “system” and contributes on the market side. She is for sale for the Norwegian Skiing Association and helps to finance competition plans and investments towards a WC season.
– So she will not be part of the training routine in the national team?
– She will be part of the national team in the way that she will be part of the group that travels around all winter, from the first to the last World Cup. Throughout the summer and autumn, the sporting program is at Konnerud, and then there is marketing work at Ullevaal (where the association has its offices).
It was during a meeting about a week ago that the ski management discussed the national team. According to VG’s information, they were told that Skistad did not want to be part of the national team.
NTB also learned that Skistad had refused.
Skistad says that she sat at home on the sofa and read VG’s case that she had turned down the national team.
– I wonder where they get the information from, because next time I think they will have to check with me before they lay out just pipes, says Skistad to NRK.
VG’s sports manager Frode Buanes says the following about Skistad’s statements:
– As Ulf Morten Aune points out, there has been back and forth in the talks between the athlete and the skiing association, but we recognize that it was too conclusive to state that Stavås Skistad’s no was a finally no to the national team, says Buanes and adds:
– At the same time, we register that being a national team player today can only mean appearing on advertising posters. It is an exciting development that we will follow closely going forward.
Ulf Morten Aune
National team manager
National team manager Ulf Morten Aune tells VG today the following about how he views NTB and VG’s information today:
– We had an internal meeting, yes, last week. But what was said there, I will not comment on that.
When VG asks Aune what has happened since Wednesday last week, he answers as follows:
– I will not comment on internal meetings. In the dialogue that has taken place between us, there has been back and forth. For us, it has been important to get Kristine involved. On the other hand, she would very much like to protect her scheme.
– Then we moved back and forth. But it is smart not to say anything more than that. I will not comment on what happened before the final answer.
– To ask straight forward: Was it the case that at the meeting last week they were told that she did not want to be in the national team?
– As there was a yes only yesterday, it has not been clear cut. We started talking about this in February. Everyone understands that it has gone back and forth. But to say that it was determined or not is wrong.
Aune will not go into detail about what Skistad and the national team have agreed on.
– The thing about individual freedom, that is an important part of it. We could meet at the most important points. It doesn’t get much worse than that.
– But does she get full freedom to do as she wants, for example not attending gatherings?
– When it comes to sports, Kristine has been clear from day one that she does not want to make major sporting changes. She has been clear about that and we have said that we agree with that, says Aune.