Norway’s national ski team remained in mourning this week, and with even more questions, after top biathlon skier Sivert Guttorm Bakken was found dead in his hotel room in the Italian alps last week. The 27-year-old Guttorm had been at the team’s training camp before heading into the next several weeks of top competition.
It later emerged that Guttorm, who had made a spectacular comeback on the biathlon team earlier this season, had been found wearing a so-called høydemask, a mask used for simulating higher elevation when plugged into a generator. They were banned in Norway from 2003 to 2021, when they were approved for use. There were still no details as to how Guttom, who earlier had problems with an erratic heartbeat, may have been using the mask.
No obduction results had been released by Italian authorities as of New Year’s Eve, frustrating Norwegians who are accustomed to at least receiving a preliminary obduction report. On Tuesday both Bakken’s family and fellow skiers were told they may not receive a cause of death until March 7.
Bakken was being hailed, meanwhile, as a down-to-earth but ambitious top athlete who was competing for a place on the world’s best national ski team. The uncertainty around his death was hard on his teammates who need to continue competing later next week, just 16 days after Bakken’s death.
NewsinEnglish.no staff
