news meets the alpine national team at a hard crossfit training session in Nydalen in Oslo. Junisola is shining outside, while inside the gym, everything but tan is being worked on. The sweat pours and they give it their all. But in this year’s run-up to the season, it’s not just hard training that eats away at the athletes. – It is very tiring. I can complain that it is tiring. Everyone has their struggles that you do throughout a career, whether it’s something completely different from what we’re doing or what we’re doing. But it feels unnecessary to fight for something that is only about justice, says Braathen to news. Together with Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, Braathen has told publicly about the conflict that has been going on between the alpine national team and the association for a long time. The 23-year-old says that it affects both sleep and other things he would rather spend his time on. This is the case The conflict has been going on for several years, and mainly deals with the question of the extent to which the performers themselves are entitled to their own image rights. A statement from the Norwegian Skiing Association’s legislation committee in winter 2022 gave the athletes complete victory in a dispute over image rights. It states that the athletes and NSF must agree on the extent to which the association will be allowed to use the athletes’ image rights in commercial agreements. This means that the athletes have greater influence in NSF’s negotiations with sponsors. What the athletes are now waiting for is for the parties to negotiate a new national team agreement that is in line with the legislative committee’s statement in 2022. That negotiation has not taken place. In May, however, the ski board adopted a new national team agreement, which, according to the athletes’ lawyer, was decided without the athletes having a say in the team. The athletes are now hoping for a meeting with NSF before the national team agreement is to be signed at the start of the season in Sölden in Austria. – We are the product that is sold At the beginning of June, VG discussed the conflict that has characterized the national team athletes for a long time. It has led to athletes not wanting to sign the national team agreement with the association. Braathen confirms to news that he has not signed the agreement. – You must be able to help negotiate conditions and the extent to which I am used in these federation agreements. What is important to remember is that ultimately it is us who are the product being sold, says Braathen. – The structure and set plan we have in the Ski Association is perhaps a little out of date and is something we can be involved in and change. Just as the rest of the world is changing, I feel that it is time for something to happen here too, says Kilde. Braathen says this is not about a private helmet sponsor or the like when they compete or train under the auspices of the association, but that it is about creating a distinction between athlete and private person. – You just try to get what you are entitled to as an individual athlete. I would like to use that time to either sleep a little more, have some contrast time from the professional world or get better either in the form of “heat training” or physical training, but it is spent on many hours with lawyers and emails and meetings, says Braathen. Braathen takes this session over lawyers and e-mails: The alpine national team started the season with a bang with crossfit training. From bottom to top and top to bottom Both Braathen and Kilde emphasize a desire for better communication. – The only thing we ask for is communication. The fact that you are able to look at things from both points of view and that you find a win-win situation, says Kilde to news. WANT TO TALK: Source says communication is all they are asking from the union. Photo: Anders Boine Verstad / news Kilde believes that there is much that works at the present time, but that there is still much that can be improved. – This is one of the most important things, that you are heard and that you can work together to be the best. It’s the culture I’m used to here, where you talk to your coaches within the team and that it’s possible to be heard from bottom to top and from top to bottom. That’s a bit of the strategy that I feel is important to bring into the administration as well, says Kilde, who is interviewed in the Ski Association’s offices in Ullevål. And although it is only himself and Braathen who have spoken about this publicly, Kilde says that they have the whole team behind them. – We are in such a conflict as a whole team. It’s not just me and Lucas, as it appears. We all agree that this is something that is good for everyone, and of course I hope that the Ski Association is on the same wavelength eventually. That they see the profit in it. And then we have to take it step by step. Things don’t change overnight, but it is very important that you are open to communicating and getting things resolved, says Kilde. TRAINING PARTNERS: National team athletes Kilde and Mina Fürst Holtmann trained together at the crossfit session in Nydalen. Photo: Anders Boine Verstad / news Befriende Braathen says that it is a little liberating to finally have a spotlight on the conflict, but that they hoped it would never go this far. – Now we have worked on this internally and never wanted this to become something that came out. Because we want to keep calm in the union and just get better and make progress, but when our own union won’t play along with us when it comes to wanting it better and getting it fair, we felt we had to do it here. It’s a shame, but it was the right thing to do, says Braathen. When asked if he is willing to break with the national team, he is clear that it is not something he wants. – I don’t even want to talk about it, because I don’t want to go there, he says. Nor does Kilde want to talk about consequences now. – We haven’t come that far yet, says Kilde. Braathen says he and the rest of the team only ask to meet over a table and start a conversation about how they can secure the team’s best interests. – I don’t want it to go any further than that and it’s a bit shocking that we had to come all the way to not even today have an invitation to a table where we can talk. We will almost have to see if they are willing to respond soon. TOUGH: Thea Stjernesund (tv) and Braathen during the session in Nydalen. Photo: Anders Boine Verstad / news Control Committee handles the case Athletes’ lawyer Pål Kleven is surprised by the ski board’s handling of the case. – It is completely incredible. Despite the Legislative Committee’s clear decision in November 2022 that the association and the athletes together must agree on the market provisions in the new national team agreement, the association therefore chooses to maintain the old national team agreement without involving the athletes and without making material changes to the agreement, says Kleven resignedly. He informs that the Ski Association’s control committee has been asked to deal with the matter and that a decision is expected from the committee before the summer holidays. SPORTS MANAGER: Claus Ryste. Photo: Torstein Bøe / NTB – The Legislative Committee’s decision is not only important for the alpine skiers, but also for the national team athletes in, among other things, cross-country skiing and jumping. For the national team model to be sustainable, federations and athletes must agree together on how the rights should be distributed between them in a balanced way, the lawyer believes. Claus Ryste, sports manager for Alpine skiing in the Norwegian Skiing Association, writes to news that the association “has nothing new to announce” and refers to previous media statements. To TV 2 earlier this week, the sports director wrote that “they are in dialogue with the athletes, but have no further comments now”.
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– A bit shocking that we had to go all the way here – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
