She is 18 years old and has already become a household name in the world of athletics. Now Henriette Jæger must work her way back after the injury that prevented her from participating in the Olympics.
AREMARK (Nettavisen): Henriette Jæger has come like a shooting star into the Norwegian athletics sky over the past year, and has delivered one sensational result after another.
The online newspaper took the trip to the small place Aremark, outside Halden, and visited the 18-year-old, where she lives with her parents and older sister. The family has all played athletics, mother Unn Merete and father Lars Martin with throwing exercises, and big sister Karoline with, among other things, three steps.
Now it is the youngest in the family who will pass on the genes, and she has, to put it mildly, done well. For Henriette Jæger, a bright future as an athlete has been predicted by many, and is often compared to both Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Karsten Warholm.
– She is a girl who continues to impress me, and she impresses me every time. I get a bit the same feeling as with Karsten Warholm and Jakob Ingebrigtsen, that they very rarely disappoint, said NRK’s athletics expert Vebjørn Rodal about Jæger after the U18 world record last autumn.
Also read: The Olympic channel must withstand enormous criticism after downgrading Norwegian football
Received a clear signal from the doctor
The buttery girl meets Nettavisen outside the house where she grew up, but things are not quite as they used to be. The hunter walks on crutches, and has a splint around his right foot.
– It is a fracture in the foot, which fortunately was a very nice fracture. I thus escaped surgery, so it could have been worse. Hopefully I can throw the crutches in not too long, she says.
The incident took place during an all-around event in Germany at the end of June, which was one of her last chances to qualify for the Olympics.
– The injury itself I have actually had for a while, but was told by the doctor that it went well to compete with. The form was very good at that time, so it was boring that it should happen right then, the shooting star tells Nettavisen.
Also read:Warholm reveals unusual F1 collaboration before the Olympics: – I called myself
The games in Tokyo were never in the mind of “Team Hunter” before the season, but the results improved from time to time and suddenly she was close.
– If everything had worked out, I would have had an opportunity to qualify. We went to Germany with the idea of getting a good enough result to book a ticket to Tokyo, so to speak something else would be wrong.
But in the 100 meter hurdles, all of the results should be in vain, when the 18-year-old stumbled on one of the first hurdles and injured himself in the fall. She went to a local hospital for further examination, and a fracture of the foot was later found.
– It has been tough to recover from that disappointment, and I think about it a lot. I was very upset when the answers came, and then you forget a bit that I have many championships ahead of me.
Also read: Henriette Jæger loses the Olympics
Understand the Warholm comparison
The 18-year-old from Aremark competes in multi-event, where the running exercises are by far her strongest. Among other things, she has NM gold for seniors in both 60 meters and 200 meters indoors from 2020, and delivered the best record in all-around during the competition in Götzis with 6154 points in May. The result is only 72 points away from the Norwegian record for Ida Marcussen at 6226.
The performances attract attention, and many call Jæger the “new Warholm”, considering that Warholm also competed in multi-sport from a young age, and had the running exercises as his strongest exercises. The man from Ulsteinvik ended up specializing, and set a new world record in his exercise 400 meters hurdles, earlier this month.
Jæger is constantly asked about the future, and whether it will ever be relevant to do the same as Warholm, and specialize.
– I understand that many compare us, because we have much of the same traits and development in our careers. He is a completely raw athlete, who inspires me a lot in everyday training. For now, I enjoy training and competing in all-around, but it is certainly possible that I will one day specialize. It can happen after high school, but right now it’s impossible to say.
Now she reveals that there are several dilemmas she faces in the coming years.
– I envisage competing in multi-event also next year, then the assessment begins on where to bet next, whether it will be with mum as coach and whether I will specialize at all.
Also read: Henriette Jæger (17) rose against the world elite
The super talent is trained by his mother Unn Merete, in her hometown where there is no abundance of training opportunities. They must therefore be creative when it comes to training work, something Henriette has been a big part of since she was younger.
– It’s me who sets up the training plans, and mum who looks over, approves and corrects things. Among other things, we do not have a running track with turns here, so then it is important to be creative to be able to train on it. A change of place to live could therefore have helped to develop me further, but that is not something we have concluded yet.
– So you have considered moving?
– We have been thinking about the USA for several years already, in that both mum and dad have gone to school and practiced athletics there. But then we must be completely sure, because it will be very different from what I do now. We have also considered whether I should move to Oslo, to have more access to facilities. The last thing is to stay here in Aremark, and continue the work we do here. Which works very well, says a thoughtful Hunter.
Here, Jæger sets a world record in all-around for U18 athletes:
Increasing attention
With the impressive achievements, also comes the attention, both from fans, the media and sponsors. Now the talent admits that it is unusual to be in the center, and that there is one thing in particular she wants to improve.
– Karsten and Jakob (Ingebrigtsen) are very good on social media, and have many followers. But so far it has been something I have been incredibly bad at. It’s almost a little embarrassing how little time I spend on it, so there I have to sharpen up. I have a teammate who helps me a little, but I thought things were so embarrassing to post. I think it’s an Aremark thing. But I know that is what it takes to create a little buzz around oneself now, she says and laughs.
– How have you felt the pressure from sponsors and the like?
– It is clear that it becomes more and more every time I compete, and good results make people interested. You are constantly contacted, so it shows that athletics is attractive on the market as well. Both the Ingebrigtsen brothers and Karsten are good at promoting Norwegian athletics, so then I hope I can too. I just need to get more active in social media.
Also read:Total butcher Viking after major defensive errors: – Does not belong at this level
In conclusion, she says that she still has a hope of reaching the end of the season, and get the good feeling before next season.
– I hope that the injury heals quickly, and that I can come back and prove something towards the end of the season, the determined 18-year-old concludes.
–
:quality(80)/cdn-kiosk-api.telegraaf.nl/d2ac4146-e797-11eb-b510-0217670beecd.jpg "Spike Lee apologizes for Cannes blunder: I messed up | entertainment")
