norway’s Track and Field Team Sees World Cup Dip, Vows Return at European Championships
BUDAPEST, Hungary – Despite recent dominance in track and field, Norway‘s team experienced a largely medal-less showing at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, prompting reflection and a pledge for improvement ahead of next year’s European Championships. The team, accustomed to golden performances from athletes like Karsten Warholm and Jakob Ingebrigtsen, returns home with a renewed focus after a challenging competition.
Norway’s “golden age” of athletics, mirroring Sweden’s success in the early 2000s, has seen a surge in medal wins since the 2017 World Championships in London – a total of ten medals including five gold, two silver, and three bronze. Though, Budapest proved a tougher test. While the team didn’t replicate the medal haul of recent years, athletes are framing the experience as a temporary setback.
Karsten Warholm arrived in Tokyo with three World Cup golds and an Olympic gold and silver,while Jakob Ingebrigtsen boasted two Olympic golds and two World Cup golds across the 1,500 and 5,000 meters. The recent World Cup saw Markus Rooth deliver a surprise gold in Paris, raising expectations for continued success.
One of Norway’s rising stars,Henriette Jaeger,who secured silver at the indoor World Cup in the 400 meters and reached the World Cup final in tokyo,attributes the team’s overall performance to injuries. “Sport is brutal, sometimes it goes up, sometimes down and it is clear that it is sad to go home without medals, but we can tackle this,” Jaeger told Dagens Næringsliv. “I am 100 percent sure we will be back already to the European Championships in Birmingham next year.”
A luminous spot emerged in the final days of the competition with Jaeger leading the 4×400 meter relay team to a sixth-place finish in the final, setting a new Norwegian record. “That a small nation like Norway with six million inhabitants has a relay team in the World cup final in one of the world’s largest sports is huge. We had not believed in advance,” Jaeger stated.
