The Heming girl couldn’t hold back her tears when she met the press after 16th place on Saturday. The voice broke several times. It was emotional for several reasons.

– For my part, it will be the last World Cup race of the season, so… it was a bit boring that it was like that, but it’s always nice to go to Kollen anyway, said- her at the beginning.

The request was rejected

If it had been up to Uhrenholdt Jacobsen, she would have made it to the World Cup final too. The national team will travel to Canada next Wednesday, then to the United States and back to Canada for the final competitions of the season. Jacobsen should have been fighting for a podium place in the overall World Cup standings.

It is a trip that lasts approximately 11 to 12 days.

But the 32-year-old can’t leave.

– I will start training on Monday and I have asked to be absent a little more than what is actually allowed in the rules.

– But I have to comply with the guidelines that exist and I haven’t received permission from the university to travel, and that’s okay, I have to comply with that. The podium as a whole is falling apart, but in a way it’s small in the grand scheme of things.

Iversen irritated

For the next period, practical work in a hospital awaits medical student Jacobsen. Jacobsen himself requested leave. There she was flatly refused – even after complaining about the decision, said national team coach Ole Morten Iversen. For her, it is a question of not being able to exceed a certain limit of absence.

The response from the medical school is welcomed by the national team coach.

– I am very surprised and disappointed by this response. At the highest level, we strive to combine education and high-level sport. And that we should be proud of it. When one of the best skiers in the world fails to finish the season and challenge for the top three overall, I’m disappointed with the response, he says.

– When the Olympic summit and the Swedish Sports Confederation (NIF) have to ensure that people get a good education and at the same time practice high-level sports… And then we get it on time. This does not harmonize with the nice words that others say.

When presented with Iversen’s view, Dean Ivar Prydz Gladhaug said the medical school complies with regulations.

– Beyond that, I don’t comment on it, Gladhaug told NRK.

I should have had an answer “yesterday”

After the refusal of Uhrenholdt Jacobsen himself, the Ski Federation also took action. Cross country manager Espen Bjervig said they sent her a separate request to waive the absence rules. Without getting an answer yet.

– You leave on Wednesday. Should you have received an answer long ago?

– We would prefer to have an answer “yesterday”. We can hope that it will come, says Bjervig.

Uhrenholdt Jacobsen’s tears were therefore not only about the fact that this was probably his last World Cup race this season.

Like Thérèse Johaug, she was a victim of the Norwegian strategy of not changing skis along the way. She felt in very good shape and felt that she had a much better position inside.

He may have run his last World Cup race

There is also always a moment of excitement at the end of each season, whether Uhrenholdt Jacobsen can continue to combine top sport and education.

Coach Iversen is aware that very few people would have been able to accomplish what the student did this year. He believes that the journey has been difficult on several fronts and was surprised, among other things, by the number of hours recorded in the training diary during difficult exam periods.

Iversen says they haven’t talked much about the upcoming World Championship season.

The main character herself responds like this if she will come back next year to go to the full stands of Kollen.

– I guess that’s what I’m very, very unsure about, and what makes him particularly sensitive right now. Because this might be my last World Cup race.

Time will tell in April and May whether Uhrenholdt Jacobsen will continue his ski career.