Climate activists demonstrated in the middle of the cross-country track – the police on the scene – NRK Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule

During the 20 kilometer joint start for the cross-country men at Lillehammer, several people demonstrated.

They started by using flares on the side, and shortly afterwards you also saw demonstrators standing in the middle of the trail with a banner reading “Stop oil exploration”, while the cross-country skiers were heading up the trail behind them. In addition, some of them picked up a spray can and sprayed the snow with red paint.

The police have control over the demonstrators, but for now they refuse to listen to the police’s instructions.

– We have control over five demonstrators. As of now, the protesters do not want to leave the site. That is what the organizer and the police want, says the police operations service to NRK.

– Are we talking about fines?

– We will see what the outcome will be. It has not been clarified. It is the police’s job to have control, they say further.

– Poorly demonstrated

When the demonstration started, the officials had to wait for the police to arrive in order to manage to get the situation under control. Some of the demonstrators entered the track and lay down, while the officials had to sit on top of some demonstrators, and almost drag them off the track after they refused to move.

In the pictures, you can see that the athletes were on their way up the hill when the protesters were standing in the middle of the track. Iversen saw no problem with that.

– It was poorly demonstrated. It was just a matter of passing by, says Emil Iversen to NRK.

Nevertheless, he is critical that the situation arose, and believes it could have become dangerous.

– I don’t think anything of it. It can be both dangerous and scary. I don’t think anything of demonstrations on the road, at sporting events. They are just trying to destroy and I find it sad, he says.

Trønder believes other ways could be found to stand up for the climate.

– It is not pleasant. It is good to work with the climate, but I would do it in a different way than to destroy those who play sports, he continues.

His Swedish competitor, Calle Halfvarsson, also did not like that it was demonstrated during the cross-country competition.

– No, I don’t know if it is the right way to go by disrupting ski competitions if you want to demonstrate. I’m not sure if it’s the right way to go, says Halfvarsson to NRK.

Winner influenced

Pål Golberg was the runner who came out the strongest in the 20-kilometer race, despite the fact that a number of athletes were in a position to win the race.

Behind him, Sjur Røthe came in second place and Martin Løwstrøm Nyenget in third place, thus wrapping up the Norwegian podium once again.

Golberg says that he himself was influenced by the demonstration.

– I noticed that very well because I had to get off the track. It was fortunately good that they did it uphill and not downhill. Then we would probably have had ski races canceled and lots of falls, says Golberg to NRK.

He stands behind his competitors’ statements, and believes that demonstrations should be done in a different way.

– I don’t really think anything of it. It is probably possible to get that banner out on TV in another way. It could be dangerous. Unless they have a good idea of ​​cross-country skiing, they could find themselves doing it on a downhill slope and it could get really ugly, he says.

Have taken action

Terje Lund, head of events at the Norwegian Ski Association says that they have been on the lookout for a similar demonstration to take place after the opening weekend at Beitostølen.

Then there was a corresponding climate action against oil exploration. During the prologue, the Swedish cross-country skier Emil Johansson Kringstad carried a banner with the inscription: “Stop Equinor! Tomorrow is melting”.

Equinor is behind the “Heroes of Tomorrow” programme, which among other things sponsors skiing.

– After Beitostølen, we have made ongoing assessments together with the police and they have also made assessments leading up to the race, so we have been prepared that something similar could happen, says Lund to NRK.

He thinks nothing of the “stunt”.

– It is a democracy and people should be allowed to protest, but I think we should be allowed to let those who want to go cross-country skiing to go cross-country skiing and then find other ways to protest, he says.