15 years after her first World Cup start, Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal (32) deleted Ingrid Kristiansen’s 36-year-old Norwegian record of 5000 meters. Her coach believes she can reach her absolute peak in three years – and stay there until the Olympics in 2032.
Less than 20 minutes ago
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Bjerkeli Grøvdal lowered Ingrid Kristiansen’s (66) Norwegian record 14.37.33 – set in the autumn of 1986 – with over six seconds when she took 4th place behind three Ethiopians with 14.31.07.
– At least I did not think that this is a limit, says Knut Jæger Hansen after Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal has demanded her boyfriend Magnus Aarre a rain-wet record hug and is almost finished with the record interviews at Bislett on Thursday night.
Knut Jæger Hansen has trained Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal for a number of years. He is a physiotherapist by profession and was a coach for Ingvill Måkestad Bovim (40) when she took over as a 30-year-old. 6th place in 1500 meters in the World Athletics Championships 11 years ago in South Korean Daegu. In the interview zone during Oslo’s Diamond League competition last Thursday, he tells VG that “the best age” for female runners is from 32 to 42.
– Because it only has to do with hormones and that, he thinks.
–This is not the first time he has said that. Knut Jæger Hansen has previously emphasized that coaches and support staff must show patience when it comes to demands for top sports performance for women and that hormonal differences mean that they tend to “peak” later than the boys.
– It is “shifted” compared to the boys, who in terms of puberty may be able to bet harder from a younger age, he stated in VG, while Ingvill Måkestad Bovim in the same case pointed out: “If you look at the average age of women and men in the finals of the Olympics and the World Cup, it gives clear signals that women spend more time reaching their potential.”
Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal vant terreng-EM in Dublin last year as a 31-year-old. Three months ago, she set a personal record for the New York City Half Marathon with 1.08.07 (and became corona-sick). When asked if Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal can therefore “peak” – fulfill her potential – in three years, he answers “it can come in three years”.
– She turned 32 the other day (June 14). We do not know how good it can be. But she is making progress all the time. It is asked how long she will last. She can be at the top in the Melbourne Olympics in 2032. But there are many other things in life, says Knut Jæger Hansen.
– Have you talked about it – 2032?
– We have probably talked about it jokingly. But now it is first and foremost the World Cup (15-24 July) this year, it is the European Championships this year (15-21 August). In the WC she runs only one distance (5000 m). It has a little with the heat to do and that the European Championships come afterwards. Then there is the championship next year (World Cup in Budapest), and then there is Paris (Olympics 2024). That is what we have planned, Knut Jæger Hansen answers.
He also says that she must be exposed to even more races of the kind she now completed with flying colors, after a long run offensively in front of the field, and that he “sees no stopping” so that she can also approach the best Africans.
– Those are pretty big words?
– No, she just has to spend some time on it, the success coach answers.
Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal has just taken a sip from her water bottle when VG asks if she is thinking about the Olympics in 10 years. She puts the water in her throat and expresses that she did not expect to be asked exactly that question now.
– No comment. I take Paris first, she replies with a laugh.
More seriously, she adds that she has “always” heard that she is not offensive enough. But it’s not just in the head. It must vote physically as well. She also says that she has become smarter and smarter every year. She made her World Cup debut in Osaka, Japan in 2007, 15 years ago.
– Six years ago (Olympics 2016) you agreed to be called persedronningen. Now you’re the runner queen?
– Now I may have taken over that throne, at least at 5000 meters, she answers.
She has been dreaming about it for 10 years, maybe 20 years.
Abstinent 5000 queen Ingrid Kristiansen (66) saw her record break from a spectator seat at Bislett.
– I just think it was fun. I have been waiting for it for many years. At least for five years. She has had some trouble, but has had a good apparatus around her. She has been doing top sports since she was 17, so it was kind of timely, says Ingrid Kristiansen on her way out of the stadium.
– I’m not saying she’s done now as a 32-year-old. Let’s give her another five years. Of course she can get better, she adds.
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