Norwegian ski jumper Halvor Egner Granerud was having an outstanding season and favoured at the Nordic Ski World Championships this week, until he tested positive for the Corona virus. The team’s press chief was also sent into isolation and then another Norwegian sports official was found to be breaking the rules by not wearing a face mask.
“This obviously means that my world championship (participation) is over,” a disappointed Granerud wrote on social media Wednesday. He wrote that he was feeling only “slightly unwell” but would have to drop the rest of the competition in Oberstdorf.
Granerud and fellow Norwegian ski jumpers Robert Johansson, Daniel André Tande, Marius Lindvik and Johann André Forfang had shared a microphone at their first press conference, raising concerns for the rest of them. Ivar Stuan, head of the combined skiing and jumping team, was also criticized on Wednesday for not wearing a face mask while speaking to reporters.
Many of the athletes are clearly confused and frustrated by all the rules. Granerud still claimed he thought he’d followed them all. He was part of the men’s and women’s jumping team that won a silver medal during the weekend, however, and stood together at the medal ceremony without face masks.
“Everyone forgets now and them,” commentator Johan Remen Evensen told state broadcaster NRK. “I think there are several people nervous about testing over the next few days.”
newsinenglish.no staff
