Biathlon: Tiril Eckhoff and Ole Einar Bjoerndalen disappointed by the shooting of their female compatriots
Eighteenth. That was the result of Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold, the best Norwegian in the pursuit at the World Biathlon Championships in Lenzerheide (Switzerland) on Sunday, who scored 16/20 against the targets. A distant position that reflects the difficulties encountered by the Scandinavians since the start of this global event.
Behind her, we have to go all the way down to thirty-third place to find a sign of one of her compatriots. It was here that Maren Kirkeeide finished with a low score of 13/20. Ragnhild Femsteinevik was no better, finishing forty-fifth after five faults, while Karoline Knotten had an ordeal crossing the line in fifty-first place after six errors.
A total of twenty-two errors, which once again prevented the representatives of the Nordic kingdom from playing leading roles and winning medals. A trend that is worrying even the TV experts. Tiril Eckhoff , a former biathlete who has now become a TV2 consultant, makes a sad assessment of the current state of affairs: “The performances are too bad in shooting and it’s not fast enough in skiing”, she says.
“It’s time coaches […] took some responsibility too”.Ole Einar Bjoerndalen on TV2
Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, who was overtaken on Sunday by his former team-mate Johannes Thingnes Boe at the top of the rankings of the most successful individual athletes at the World Championships, called for rapid change to try and establish a new dynamic: “The problems need to be resolved as soon as possible. The changes have to work for the girls too,” he said.
For him, this first week in the canton of Grisons remains a “failure”. “The girls are under-performing at these World Championships. In the standing event, they are much weaker than they are in the World Cup,” he analysed. I get the impression that they’re not able to shoot at their best.
However, the 51-year-old legend does not want to blame the athletes in this story. It’s time for the coaches, who have the main responsibility, to take some responsibility for what we’ve seen so far,” he says. They didn’t manage to win the World Cup overall last year [with Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold, editor’s note] and now they’re under some pressure.”
Read also
- Dorothea Wierer supports Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold after the Norwegian was insulted on social networks
- “Sometimes you just have to let go”: Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold, who struggled at the World Championships in Lenzerheide, broke down in tears after the sprint.
