The competition for places in the Norwegian cross-country national team is fierce, especially in the Olympics where the places are fewer than in the World Cup.
23-year-old Harald Östberg Amundsen experienced this bitterly today.
Amundsen, who took the World Cup bronze in the 15 km freestyle last season, did not get a place in the squad.
- I have given everything in every race to get involved, so it is sad to be poked from a goal you have had in your head, but the squad that is selected is the right one, he says to the Norwegian newspaper VG, and continues:
- You are always disappointed when you do not manage goals or achieve dreams.
But I'm not lying and crying.
Miss in the tour ruined
That he would lose the last Olympic ticket, which instead went to Sjur Röthe, was thus no surprise to him.
- It was really about as I had expected.
Sjur Röthe has done better than me in the end.
I had a miss in the Tour de Ski of 15 km free, which I would have had to avoid if I were to get into the Olympic squad, he says, referring to the 43rd place he took at the beginning of the Tour de Ski.
The other three cross-country skiers who received an Olympic ticket today were Pål Golberg, Anne Kjersti Kalvå and Mathilde Myhrvold.