– I get a bad feeling in my stomach. Like a four-year-old who gets scolded by his mother, and feels the shame, says Slind to news. The cross-country queen and last year’s WC sensation talks about the feeling after the recent outburst from coach Chris Jespersen. Slind, who is outside the national team and goes to Team Aker Dæhlie, was with the cross-country women on interval training in Granåsen. She got overzealous and lay down in front. TWO MEDALS: Astrid Øyre Slind took bronze in the 15 kilometer ski relay and gold in the relay at the WC in Planica. Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB – Then it was a real joke to get. He’s strict, that is. Hard as hell. He got so mad, because really he was only supposed to be there to film some technique. I asked afterwards if I could see, but he hadn’t bothered to film the technique, because I “wasn’t going to walk any fast until the winter anyway”. It was a complete blackout of the season, says Slind and laughs at the thought. – Crisis. Then I was mad, Jespersen describes the training session. – What did you say? – I said it like it was, what an idiot she was. Then she gets a little confused, but at the same time she agrees. There’s no denying that it’s happened before, so every time it happens I’m genuinely pissed off. Then there will be a bit of a bad atmosphere, but it will get better eventually, he replies. – Embarrassed For the coach and Slind have laid out a very deliberate plan, for the season and for the WC in Trondheim in 2025. It is both about development, but just as much to prevent the 35-year-old from going on another rampage, which happened last for just a few years ago. One of Jespersen’s most important tasks is to make sure it doesn’t happen again. WATCH OUT: Coach Chris Jespersen is with Astrid Øyre Slind at all training sessions. – It’s not often that I yell, he assures. Photo: Anders Skjerdingstad / news – There are quite a few ski races in August and then it gets really tough. The way she does it when she runs off after a mile and alone after that makes it pretty tough. Then you have to take it down a bit on the hard sessions outside of competition, a bit down on the intensity, and we agreed on that, so I was furious, he explains. – It’s also a bit embarrassing, because I’m such an adult that I should be able to manage it myself. At least when I go into a session knowing it’s my challenge. It is on the verge of idiocy not to let yourself down, that the childish desire to want to be involved overrides cleverness. So I have to lie down and say “never again”, and prove in the future that I can be in control, admits Slind himself. Got a “punishment” It also led to a new plan for Top Sports Week. During the 54 kilometer long race at Hitra, Slind was not supposed to break away early, but instead stay in the field and test out both sprints and sprints. Slind did, and she got value for money. The cross-country queen had ice in her stomach. Although Astrid Øyre Slind moved before the included sprints, it was not until there were 15 kilometers left that Slind left. Then Tiril Udnes Weng bit her, but soon after she fell clumsily. But a polite Slind would not win dishonestly and waited for his opponent. – It is fair play, said news’s commentators Fredrik Aukland and Torgeir Bjørn. From there, Slind and Udnes Weng followed each other closely, until there were just under three kilometers to go. – She is in a class of her own, said Aukland when Slind pulled away and decided the race. Sprints and technique are among the things she is working on improving for the upcoming season, where the main goal is to assert herself in the World Cup. After that, the dream is the WC on home ground in a year and a half, but Jespersen is looking even further. – I want her to get a chance at the Olympics. It would have been cool, and 2026 is probably the last possibility. We haven’t talked much about it, but at least she won’t be allowed to start a family before the WC in Granåsen. I have decided that, says the coach and grins.
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