Many sporting events have been canceled or postponed due to the prevailing corona pandemic and Espen Bjervig, national team manager in the Norwegian cross country team, believes that the World Cup in cross-country skiing will also be affected.
Bjervig also believes that there is a risk that there will be travel restrictions even in winter and therefore the Norwegian team has sketched on a plan b.
- We have to think differently, there may be fewer races abroad, he tells NRK.
In order to increase the number of events, Therese Johaug, Johannes Hösflot Kläbo and the other stars may run long races and other, lesser-known, races in Norway.
- We have to get as many races as we can and this is the alternative we have, so we run it. With our riders we can get races of very high quality, says Bjervig.
He also sees this as an important part of keeping skiing alive and believes that the race in Norway is positively affected by the participation of the elite athletes.
- We will be able to lift the status of many races here in Norway.