– I think it is very strange. If you have ambitions to be at the top in biathlon, this is not the goal. That’s what news’s biathlon expert Ola Lunde says about one of the biggest stars in the biathlon circus. For Dorothea Wierer has had anything but a normal seasonal upheaval. While the competitors put in perhaps the year’s most important training hours throughout the summer, the 34-year-old was in a completely different mode. Throughout the summer, the Italian TV audience could follow Wierer as an expert during Eurosport’s TV broadcasts from the Olympics in Paris. EXPERT: Ola Lunde. Photo: Vidar Ruud Here she was present in the press zones for the Italian court and showed the life behind the scenes of the Italian athletes to the TV audience. – I love doing other things. I can’t just be an athlete all the time. I focus on competitions, but I also love to enjoy life outside of sport, says Wierer to news after the season opener at Sjusjøen. – Caused people to criticize me Even the star defends the Olympic decision. – I know it’s not the best for an athlete, but I don’t think everyone has the chance to do this (working during an Olympics). I did it because I wanted to experience it and it also gives me the opportunity to work with TV after my career, says Wierer. – Ola Lunde criticizes your Olympic choice and believes that it does not hold up. How is it to receive such criticism? – I’m used to people criticizing me. I am not a normal athlete. I love to enjoy life, in addition to being an athlete, replies Wierer. EXPERT: Here, Dorothea Wierer is interviewed as a Discovery expert during the Summer Olympics in Paris by news. Photo: news news’s football expert and Viking profile Kristoffer Løkberg has himself experienced juggling between sports life and TV jobs. It has had a positive effect on him, says Løkberg himself. – For me, it has been very good. Top sport can be all-consuming, so it has been good to have something else to use the head for, says the football expert. He believes that one must look ahead when approaching the end of one’s career. – You have to start thinking about life afterwards towards the end of your career. Then it might be a good idea to take advantage of such opportunities, to see if there might be something for the future, believes Løkberg, who will retire after the season. JUGGLER: On the eve of his football career, Kristoffer Løkberg has been an news expert during, among other things, the World Cup and the European Football Championship. Photo: Carina Johansen Had two months off training after a failed season At Sjusjøen, Wierer completed the first hard run-through since February. Even with a very strong “comeback” and a third place at the joint start. – It was nice to finally be back, she says. This is the first bright spot in a long time. For the 34-year-old, we have been through a special year – a year that has contained more downs than ups. Last year’s season cannot be called anything other than a season of failure, something she herself also admits. Wierer told news that she was ill five times from November to March. A tenth place in the WC sprint was her best individual position throughout the season. After the championship in Nove Mesto, she had enough: Then she chose to take a two-month break to reset both body and mind. FAR DOWN: Dorothea Wierer had it tough during the WC in Nove Mesto. Here, after the normal program, she is still in 14th place. Photo: PETTER ARVIDSON / BILDBYRÅN In these months she stayed away from all training, before she started up again in the spring. Then came the Olympic job in the summer. In the French capital, there was only time for one training session a day – and this happened while the competitors were laying the important foundations for a new season. – I would definitely do it again. After the Olympics, I had ten days when I just lay in bed and was completely dead. I was in and around Paris all day doing interviews, and was also present from the studio. It was hard, but nice, says Wierer. SHOWING FORM: Dorothea Wierer made it onto the podium during the Norwegian national opening. Photo: Anders Boine Verstad / news – Getting too bad For Lunde, this is an incomprehensible priority. At least considering the season Wierer was through. – The work she has put in will be too bad, even if she has actually been healthy this autumn, says Lunde. Several of the Norwegian biathletes also took Wierer’s “summer job” with them. – I don’t know if I would have taken a few weeks in Paris even if it was off-season. I’m a bit unsure if I would do it, says Juni Arnekleiv to news. But Wierer also gets support from both competitor Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold and the best biathlete in the world, Johannes Thingnes Bø. – I think biathlon is a very mental sport. In biathlon, you must have both a physical and mental edge. If you need two months off to be able to be 100 per cent on, and to tolerate a whole winter, then it is absolutely the right thing to do, says Tandrevold. COMPETITOR: … and girlfriends. Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold (left) and Dorothea Wierer after the joint start at Sjusjøen. Photo: Anders Boine Verstad / news – As long as she is confident that she can be good in winter, I think she wants to just have fun and do her thing in the summer. I fully support her in that, says Thingnes Bø. Get all the goodies with you through the winter! See the winter program for the entire season below: Published 19.11.2024, at 19.57
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news expert Ola Lunde is stunned by Dorothea Wierer’s season charge – traveled to the Olympics in Paris – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
