– It is a small crisis for us. The season run-up did not turn out as it should have. I have stopped following when the ice in Stavanger arrives. It is anyway too late now, since the season starts at the weekend, says Peder Kongshaug. The Stavanger man was part of the team tempo trio that won gold during the Olympics in Beijing last year, and he is also the junior world champion in the 1500 metres. Bare concrete At the beginning of September, there should have been steel-shining ice in the Vår Energi Arena Sørmarka in Stavanger. But everything that could go wrong has gone wrong, and so far there is only concrete to be seen in the skating rink. Peder Kongshaug, in the middle, won Olympic gold in team tempo in 2022 together with Sverre Lunde Pedersen, left, and Hallgeir Engebråten. Photo: AP Kongshaug and 14 other national team athletes had booked six weeks in Stavanger. Suddenly the plans had to be changed. Some of the season build-up was moved to the Netherlands, while the last weeks of the training period took place in Kristiansund. – It was a bad stay in the Netherlands. There were no good ice times for us since the Dutch prioritize their own. Everything was better arranged in Kristiansund, but for me, who travels 250 days a year, I was really looking forward to a quiet autumn at home in Stavanger to train well, says Kongshaug. Karton Nilsen, day-to-day manager of Folkehallene IKS in Stavanger, says that they faced a major technical challenge when preparations for the autumn skating season started in August. Leakage on leakage – We had large leaks in the plates in a heat exchanger made of titanium. This was a big challenge to get hold of. In the autumn, we looked around the world for components that could be delivered quickly, he says. Nilsen is very understanding that this has been a frustrating autumn for both elite and cross-country runners. Before the weekend, the parts were finally in place in Stavanger. Finally, ice production was to be started, but then a new leak occurred which caused large parts of the brine to disappear. The brine acts as an antifreeze in the pipes and is absolutely necessary to get ice in the hall. – Today we are waiting for a trailer with brine that will arrive from Fredrikstad. We have ordered even more lake from Sweden, says Nilsen. He hopes that there may be ice on the rink during the next week. It starts to rush. In the coming weeks, Stavanger will host both the Norwegian Cup and the World Cup. Putting the list high – I think Stavanger has the potential to become the skating capital of Europe. That’s how high we have to put the list. Right now it is Heerenveen that is right up there, but the conditions here mean that we can take up the competition, believes Kristin Kragseth. Kristin Kragseth was so happy when her son, Peder Kongshaug, won Olympic gold last year. Now she hopes that Stavanger will sort out the problem in one of the most important skating rinks in the country, both when it comes to the top and width investment. Photo: Øystein Otterdal / news She is the chairman of Stavanger Sandnes skating club, but also the mother of Peder Kongshaug. Kragseth says that all the problems this autumn have not only affected the national team athletes, but also younger talent and not least the breadth of the hall. – We have never had as many recruits as last year, but this autumn we have not been able to start with them. It’s very boring, she says. Kragseth believes that Norway currently has the youngest and best national ice skating team in the world. – Without facilities like the one in Stavanger, we will not be able to sustain such a heavy elite investment. We really hope that the problem in the hall here will not continue, she says. Wiklund: – Central facility Ragne Wiklund is the Norwegian world champion in both 1500 and 3000 meters on ice skates, and is also such a good orienteering runner that she received Egeberg’s honorary prize in 2023. Wiklund confirms that the Stavanger ice is central to the elite effort in Norway. Verdsmeister Ragne Wiklund was also affected by the major problems with the skating rink in Stavanger. Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen – I have very good experience of being in Stavanger during the peak season. It is absolutely essential to get the facility up and running again so that we can carry out the training program as we wish in the future, she says. Petter Andersen, sports and development manager at the Norwegian Skating Association, says that the association has turned around every penny after the season congestion in Stavanger had to be replaced with much more expensive solutions. – It became so much more expensive that the athletes had to finance some of the supplement themselves. It is a shame that it has turned out this way, but the national team has still managed to come up with a good, alternative plan this autumn. But for the recruitment in Stavanger, with its own skating line at Wang Toppidrett, this is of course not good, he says.
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This is where Peder Kongshaug and the national team athletes should have had a season rally – but the ice is missing – news Rogaland – Local news, TV and radio
