Therese Johaug – Revealed: – A hundred in a heartbeat

GRUE (Dagbladet): Therese Johaug did not meet the EC requirement when she won the Grue half-marathon in superior style last week. She clocked in at 1.11.25.

The retired cross-country runner was the first woman to cross the finish line in Kirkenær. Johaug had then covered just over 21 kilometres.

Did not pass the EC requirement

Kristian Ulriksen, who himself ran the Grue half marathon on 1.10.05, is very impressed by what Johaug delivered.

– You can talk a lot about Johaug as an athlete, but it’s absolutely outrageous that she can do that in a debut, says Ulriksen to Dagbladet.

Clear message

Johaug and Ulriksen ran together for a long time in the leading field, before the former eventually had to drop. Johaug’s finishing time was nevertheless the ninth best on the women’s side in Norway in the half-marathon of all time.

– She opened hard and breathed a lot, but it was just like she got better along the way. At the start it was crowded and chaotic, which she is not used to. What she does is simply damn good, explains Ulriksen.

He is absolutely sure that if Johaug wants to invest in running – with the name she has – she will run the roughest races in the whole world. At the same time, he fully understands if Johaug would rather make a comeback in cross-country skiing and fight for new gold medals in the WC in Trondheim next year.

But:

– If she wants to run, she can do at least one minute in a short time. And maybe low 1.09 already in the autumn. If she competes in Valencia in October, which is a perfect race on a perfect course, then it’s possible she can take two minutes. That’s how good she is, Ulriksen asserts.

Revealed by heart rate monitor

– What did she say to you after the finish line?

– That she was satisfied and that it added flavor. And then it’s quite rough for us too, because Johaug is not a normal girl. At the start we asked if she ran with a heart rate belt. She answered yes, and told me that her heart rate was over a hundred at the starting line, because she was so nervous. It’s cool for us to hear that it’s going well – even for her, who came third in the WC in 2007. It’s been 17 years.

Ulriksen continues:

– And I have to say that: She gives so much of herself. She is a jovial person, talks to people and stands up for the media. She cut a very good figure over there.

A tired Johaug said the following to Dagbladet after the race:

– My God, it was tough. It was simply hard and brutal. It was really fun to try, but I felt I got it a little sooner than I had hoped for. In any case, I am very satisfied.

– I really only stood here because it was fun. It tempts repetition, she added.

Comeback?

A total of 500 participants were registered for the Grue half marathon, which is known for being very flat and fast. Johaug ran with starting number 1 on his chest.

Hans Christer Holund was another cross-country profile in the field.

Johaug retired as a cross-country runner after the 2021/22 season. Among other things, she has been an expert for NRK, had a child and has since married. Johaug has hinted several times that a comeback could be relevant before next year’s ski WC in Trondheim.

On Friday last week, Marit Bjørgen and Pål Gunnar Mikkelsplass were brought in as coaches in the women’s team. Johaug rejoiced over the election.

– You couldn’t get a better solution than a combination of Marit and Pål Gunnar in the coaching team. Both have a lot of experience both as athletes and coaches. They know what it takes to succeed in the championship, and it is important now towards the WC in Trondheim. This was wonderful news for Norwegian women’s cross-country skiing, Johaug told Dagbladet.