PLANICA (VG) Cross-country skiing profile Erik Valnes (26) came late on Thursday evening with a completely new explanation for why the WC sprint ended in a fall and exit in the semi-finals.
Valnes felt he had the day of his life, but then things went wrong before he could fight for the medals.
The vast majority thought Norway’s sprint star fell because he messed it up by stepping on his own skis – and thus fell himself.
But when VG makes contact with the 26-year-old – probably the most disappointed along with teammate Håvard Solås Taugbøl in the World Cup facility on Thursday – Valnes tells a different story.
– I have become a little wiser since I went through the press zone, says Valnes.
He himself thought he was “pooped” on the back of his ski by another runner, which caused him to cross the skis and acrobatically nosedive into the loose snow in Planica.
– I didn’t want to blame anyone else, but when I saw the TV pictures again, that ski is already broken. You can see it if you scroll through the pictures. The tip vibrates. You can see that it’s broken from the start, says Valnes, who has put lubricators and service people on the case to investigate what might have happened.
See video of what Valnes is talking about at the top of the case.
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– What do you think about something like that happening in a WC sprint?
– You can say that accidents happen, but this is not within that category. It’s the Eurojackpot. It is unbelievable that this is happening. I don’t get it.
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Sprint national team coach Arild Monsen gives the student support in his theory.
– It is absolutely incredible and, yes, unimaginable that it is happening.
Valnes was devastated after the race. He mostly answered that “you can imagine that” when asked about what it was like to quit far too early. For Valnes, he won the prologue in front of WC gold winner Johannes Høsflot Klæbo. Everything was right, he didn’t even think about tactics, because the day was so good.
Then of course everything turned around with the fall.
He threw the one broken ski in rage.
– I am generally a sane guy who likes to use up my energy with two skis and poles. But this is a big occasion, I don’t get the opportunity to use all my strength to show how good I am. It just boils over. It was quite natural to send the ski into the advertising signs.
Valnes says he is very uncertain about what will happen next in the championship.
– I don’t feel like going skiing now, he says when VG asks about his thoughts on the team sprint, which comes already on Sunday.
It probably goes to sprint silver winner Pål Golberg together with Klæbo.
– I might be able to step in for someone, he says.
Coach Arild Monsen says that Even Northug, Sivert Wiig and Håvard Solås Taugbøl will return home from the WC on Saturday.
– Anything can happen with illness and so on, so Valnes will remain in the WC camp until further notice.
