– It looks like Kalvå will outclass the field, exclaimed news’s cross-country commentator Jann Post when Heidi Weng, as the last starter, passed 19.7 seconds behind Kalvå after 5.6 kilometres. Already early in Saturday’s season opener, it became clear that Anne Kjersti Kalvå had a gear more than the other competitors in the season opener. – She is simply in a class of her own today, said news’s expert commentator Torgeir Bjørn when Kalvå was in the race. – I would say that Anne Kjersti’s race is at an international level. That she can smell a podium place in Ruka, that should not be ignored, says news’s expert commentator Therese Johaug about Kalvå’s race. – I feel I have made progress since last year. It’s good to get it out in competition. Then there is a lot left of the season, so it is only a start, says Kalvå himself about the race. Heidi Weng was second, 31.7 seconds behind. Ingvild Flugstad Østberg entered third place in his first race since the World Cup in Davos last December, 36.6 seconds behind Kalvå. – We’ve both had a bit of trouble. That’s why it’s a bit cool that it’s “AK” that’s doing well, says Heidi Weng to news. GOOD START TO THE SEASON: Ingvild Flugstad Østberg took the podium in Saturday’s race. Photo: Heiko Junge / NTB Went on a rampage after contracting the corona virus Anne Kjersti Kalvå was finally going to fulfill her dream of going to the Olympics. The form arrow pointed upwards and the national team made their final preparations at altitude in Italy. But a week and a half before the championship was due to start, the hard work went down the drain. The coronavirus escaped into the Norwegian bubble. Heidi Weng and Kalvå were sent to isolation for ten days, then returned to Norway. Now the 30-year-old opens up about the time when it was up and down, how hard she was on herself and how she fought back from zero. – I was actually very fragile. I was tired, bored, somehow very emotional and quickly got on a bad track. It quickly turned into a bad day. And then I was very mean to myself: “My God, toughen up, stop whining! It’s been 1-2 months and you’re still not up and nodding. It’s just skiing, nothing to whine about.” Because it wasn’t just getting well after a short spell of illness, going on a few ski trips and revving up after the China trip was canceled in February. When she was supposed to walk 30 kilometers in Holmenkollen on March 5, she didn’t make it to the finish line. Her body did not respond as it should, and she withdrew. – I think I was just down, needed help to sort my thoughts and why things felt the way they did. I have been someone who is not so easy to get close to, who has to manage things myself. But there is probably a bit of a difference between someone who met me this spring and someone who meets me now, says Kalvå. In the coming season, she will take part in the news podcast “I det lange løp” every two weeks. It was there that she first said that she sought help through the Olympiatoppen to get help unraveling the problems. – Although it may be a trifle in life for many, it is in a way my job and my life, what I stand up for every day that did not work. So then I needed a bit of a new perspective on things. I found some good people who helped me with that and I still use them, says Kalvå, who praises the follow-up and support from those around her. Locked up abroad – Didrik probably felt it a little, yes, grins Kalvå when asked how she thinks those closest to her experienced her this spring. She lives with the men’s national team’s Didrik Tønseth, who himself has had a career with ups and downs. – Everything unravels. In addition, being locked in a hotel room alone, I have not experienced that, but I think that was not good medicine to cope with the downturn, says Tønseth to news. SKI PROFILE AND PARTNERS: Didrik Tønseth. Photo: Terje Bendiksby / NTB – When you finally get out of isolation, just being alone for so many days leaves its mark. Then you go outside and then the Olympics start on TV, and then you have to sit and watch it. Then you have to try to cross-country ski again, and then it doesn’t work. It will be down on down on down. And then the season is over. “It can’t possibly happen” Kalvå believes she was in absolutely miserable shape, the worst she can remember, when the new coaching duo Stig Rune Kveen and Sjur Ole Svarstad took over the national team in June. She calls it a restart from scratch. – “Damn flat, such bad shape I’m in. It can’t possibly go”. That’s how it was for me. Stig Rune said relax, in ten days you will be there. Not so much after ten days I felt I was in good enough shape to do a good training job. And within a month and a half I did good tests myself, says Kalvå. READY TO START: Anne Kjersti Kalvå during the preparations for this weekend’s race at Beitostølen. Photo: Anders Skjerdingstad / news It was when the body was approaching its old age that Tønseth noticed that things were getting better with his roommate. She admits that there are still some difficult days, but she is glad she sought help. There are mostly good days now. And she is looking forward to cross-country skiing First stop after Beitostølen is the World Cup in Ruka. The big goal of the season is the WC in Planica towards the end of February. There it is about fighting for an individual medal and taking gold in the relay. Listen to the entire episode of “In the long run” with Anne Kjersti Kalvå here:
ttn-69
