– The body has resisted – VG

Sverre Lunde Pedersen (29) is unsure whether his body will withstand the national ice skating national team’s “American withdrawal race” next Sunday. He understands that the all-round World Cup in Hamar may break in a week.

– Of course it will be a disappointment. But I’m prepared for that to happen. My body is not as it has been, and I think the disappointment will soon be put away if it does not work out, says Sverre Lunde Pedersen.

– Then I stay at home with the family and follow Svein (almost two years) to the kindergarten, he adds.

On Sunday, Sverre Lunde Pedersen will walk 1500 meters and 5000 meters in Stavanger.

The races apply as Norwegian qualification for the all-round and sprint WC in the Viking ship from 3 to 6 March. Norway has three places on the men’s side in the all-round. Hallgeir Engebråten, who won Olympic bronze in 5000 meters in Beijing, has received one of them. The two open will be Sverre Lunde Pedersen, Peder Kongshaug, Sander Eitrem and Kristian Ulekleiv are fighting for a so-called American outlet.

– Yes, there will be “American withdrawals” about the last two. The two best get the places. It will be decided by the score, as in the all-round. I think it will be very close, says incoming sports manager Petter Andersen.

In Pyeongchang in 2018, Sverre Lunde Pedersen led Håvard Bøkko and Simen Spieler Nilsen when the trio won Norway’s first Olympic gold in team skating. One and a half weeks ago, he became – as the only one remaining from the 2018 team – historic when he, Peder Kongshaug (20) and Hallgeir Engebråten (22) beat Russia’s Olympic Committee (ROC) in the team tempo final in Beijing.

Sverre Lunde Pedersen is the only one who has won two Olympic golds in a row in team pace.

But it has had its price, physically and mentally. Nine months ago he was exposed a bicycle accident that had nearly cost him his life. After coming home to his son Svein and Ingunn Trædal-Lunde a little over a week ago, he has been “quite tired and discharged”.

– I have felt how much it has cost. The Olympics have been an absolute main goal. But this time it was a bigger discharge than I have experienced before. It has to do with my foundation. I’m not so robust, says Sverre Lunde Pedersen.

The Beijing Olympics were his fourth since making his Vancouver debut 12 years ago.

– But I’m not complaining. It is a perfectly OK discharge to win Olympic gold. Absolutely insane, really, he emphasizes.

He says that in the first days after the Olympic days in Bergen last week, he had to interrupt training sessions.

– During exertion, the body has resisted. Training has gone awry. There has been a lot of rest, he says.

Two years ago – a few days before the pandemic closed Norway – he took the silver medal behind Nederlands’ Patrick Roest in the all-round WC at Hamar, well worth noting after a injured period as a result of a bicycle accident in Inzell autumn 2019.

He hopes for a “boost” this weekend. However, it will be the first time in a very long time he has to run two races on the same day. Like sports manager Petter Andersen, he believes that Sander Eitrem (20) is well placed to take a World Cup place. The young boy was Norway’s best in 5000 meters before Christmas, but was not taken out to the Olympics.

Peder Kongshaug – Skating Norway’s new golden boy – was 15/100 from taking the bronze medal in the Olympics, before he led the team tempo to gold. Kristian Ulekleiv (25) won his semi-final heat at the joint start, but was unlucky in the final (wrong cut) and finished in 14th place. In the 1500 meters he got 16th place.

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