– It was a difficult choice. But I have decided that it is now or never in terms of getting to a WC, Slind says to news. The 34-year-old from Oppdal is part of Team Aker Dæhlie. Her job is to win long-distance races in the Ski Classics. But on the way into this season she had a dream of a special double: To walk the WC three-mile in Planica on Saturday 4 March and the 90-kilometre long Vasaloppet the following day. The road to the World Cup is via the World Cup, and Slind managed to get into the World Cup team early in the season. During the Tour de Ski she was number six and best Norwegian in the 15 km classic joint start in Val di Fiemme. It was enough for Slind to make himself highly relevant for the WC team in three miles, but not enough for his place on the team to be secure. National team coach Sjur Ole Svarstad confirms that Slind was clearly informed that in order to secure the WC place, she had to come to Les Rousses to walk the 20 km classic joint start on Sunday. According to the plan, Slind should then have gone to Marcialonga, which is one of the four grand slam races in the Ski Classics. FESTAR WC GRIP: Astrid Øyre Slind is used to skis on shiny skis, but needs lubrication to climb the slopes that can take her to the WC. Photo: Anders Skjerdingstad / news – All smoke After some deliberation, she agreed to go to the World Cup. – The yellow jersey and all the smoke when I go here, she admits when news meets her on Thursday afternoon. – How much can you lose in kroner by dropping Marcialonga? – We are talking about one and a half million. So I sacrifice a lot to get to the WC, she says. Not that Slind could win one and a half million in Marcialonga alone. But as she withdraws, she in reality loses the chance to win the yellow overall jersey in Ski Classics. She also loses the opportunity for the very most profitable, namely winning all the so-called grand slam races, which are Marcialonga, Jizerska, Vasaloppet and Birkebeinerrennet. – Money is not everything, Slind underlines that she had to have the maximum payout anyway to make it. But she won both Vasaloppet and Birkebeineren last year, and has won the last two competitions in Ski Classics before Marcialonga. – It will take a lot for all four of them to work there, but if there is a season where it could have gone, it would have been this one. But money is not everything, isn’t that what they say, smiles Astrid Øyre Slind, who has won just over 160,000 kroner in prize money in the World Cup so far this winter. STRONG IN THE TOUR: Astrid Øyre Slind was the best Norwegian in the 15 km classic joint start in Val di Fiemme during the Tour de Ski. Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB Slind says that she has not received a clear message about what she must perform in the race on Sunday. – If I win, that’s for sure. So that’s what you have to go for, she says. – But it’s about how fast the other Norwegians go, how many others want to walk three miles in the WC and how much better I can do it in a three mile than in a 20 km fishbone, says Slind, and reveals that the course in Les Rousses contains a long herringbone tray which was not entirely to her liking. – I just have to go all I have and hope it works out, she says. Does not travel as a reserve Afterwards, she will have a clear answer as to whether she is in the three-mile team or not. Being at the top of the WC is not interesting in itself. Slind does not travel to the WC as a reserve. – No, then I go long-distance running, she states. National team coach Svarstad will not say when a possible go-ahead may be given, but confirms that it may be relevant for runners to be given the go-ahead for single distances before departure to Planica. – Yes, it can be, he says to news. Norway has four places in each distance in the WC. Based on the season so far, Tiril Udnes Weng and Anne Kjersti Kalvå seem to be signed to the three-mile team. Heidi Weng, Astrid Øyre Slind and Ingvild Flugstad Østberg are probably fighting for the last two places – unless new names strike in Les Rousses this weekend.
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– I sacrifice a lot – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
