“Klebo’s words about Bolshunov are quite expected. We’ve been talking about this for over a year now.” – Wartko

The coach of the Russian national cross-country skiing team Yuri Borodavko called the expected words of the Norwegian Johannes Klebo about the absence of Russian Alexander Bolshunov at international starts this season.

On Tuesday, Klebo, in an interview with TV2, said that the athletes lack Bolshunov’s participation in the World Cup.

– I don’t want to comment on every word of Klebo at all. We ourselves know that athletes want to compete with the strongest in order to get the most out of it. The fact that the Norwegians compete with each other, few people enjoy. Klebo’s words are quite expected, and there is nothing to add to them. We’ve been talking about this for over a year now.

Does Bolshunov lack the fight against the Norwegians? Still, they see that Sasha strongly dominates in many Russian races. I have said more than once that the speed at the World Cup is much higher than in Russia. For our leaders, which include Bolshunov, there is just not enough speed and competition that was at the World Cup.

We, like many, support the idea that the strongest must fight among the strongest. Only then will both skiing enthusiasts and the athletes themselves benefit from this, ”Sport24 quotes Wartko.

Russian skiers do not take part in international tournaments under the auspices of the International Ski Federation (FIS) due to the situation in Ukraine.

• “Bolshunov is tired, there are no problems in his result in the “cutting” – Borodavko