HOLMENEKEN (VG) Ingvild Flugstad Østberg (31 years old) was in the process of recovering in an amazing team that made her dream about the big thing during the Olympics at Christmas time. Then came the message that presented the worst period of her career.
Damn at all, simply put, Ostberg says of the conversation with the national team doctor right after Christmas Eve last year, which means she was again refused to go to competitions for Norway.
The 31-year-old turned back the clock nearly six months in conversation with VG at the Holmenkollen restaurant in Oslo.
This is actually the first time she’s been speaking to the media since before Christmas. On Wednesday, Østberg arranged a press conference on her own where she announced that her career as a skater would continue.
Sad and Strange Destruction Invitation
The desire and the drive are still there.
But the investment is private and singular.
After 14 years in the national team, she was ruined for the upcoming World Cup season. However, she describes the ski management’s decision as understandable Strange and sad that she can’t be offered a place In a team she has been a part of for 14 years.
The reason she’s skated on very few skates since 2019, is because she didn’t meet the association’s requirements for health certification. In other words, there have been many disappointing messages in the past three and a half years.
Biggest shrinkage
But last winter, Ostberg really thought it changed the situation.
You’ve got the go-ahead to go cross-country skiing right before the season starts and a competition plan specifically designed by the coaches. Ostberg went to the competitions that would have her ready and qualified for the big goal: the Olympic Games in Beijing in February.
It didn’t start well, but the development was phenomenal in just a few weeks. Østberg finished eighth, just under half a minute behind Therese Johaug during the World Cup race in mid-December.
Østberg had to proudly admit to VG at a time when the increase in shape It went much faster than she thought.
– So terrible
But a few weeks later, on Christmas Day last year, the dream shattered.
It was the biggest sporting and time-lapse retreat for me, says Ostberg today.
She had a lot of faith that things had settled, but before the most important period of last year’s season, she again failed to meet the health certificate requirements.
– I understood it and the conditions were fair, but nonetheless very appalling. Because you feel that whatever you worked on for so long and used as motivation wasn’t worth anything. I didn’t get anything back.
Thus, the Tour de Ski, the Olympics, and the rest of the season went without it.
– It was brutal, she describes.
Gets with the former Johog coach
She is proud that she was able to enjoy watching her teammates compete the rest of the winter while at the same time enjoying alone on their ski trips in the Oslo countryside.
However, the season also ended in a difficult way and she is now without a place with the national team.
As she now continues her solo efforts in a season awaiting the World Cup in Planica in February, she is doing so with a follow-up from former Juhuge coach, Pal Gunnar Mikkelsblas.
Lady Gjøvik has made calls to several people in the skating community for tips on how to fund and implement a scheme, but she doesn’t seem particularly concerned about it yet.
The challenge of exercising properly and eating enough
However, there is one thing that you should take care of right now and that is good health. It was the imbalance between training and nutrition that ensured Østberg did not meet the requirements in the Norwegian Ski Association’s health certificate, and thus was refused participation in rallies and refused to start competition for extended periods.
She also has an extended injury break due to fatigue fractures related to her health in recent years.
– I’ve been very open about the fact that it was and still is a challenge for me to get the right exercise and eat enough. Exactly why I didn’t bring that up, I wish I knew too. It should have been possible when I had a great desire to ski, says Ostberg now.
It is a simple and savage message, which I must also dare and be able to hear. Then I have problems and challenges with her, which I have to work with every day.
The key is to continue collaborating with the health team at the Olympic Summit if she is to go skiing in November.
– I am ready for the necessity of making changes. What exactly, I don’t have an answer right now. But I know that changes are necessary and that it will be difficult for me, to exercise less and differently – and at the same time eat more differently.
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