Two days before the competition, the Norwegian World Championship participants will attend a press conference in Tokyo. But Narve Gilje Nordås has no plans to let himself be interviewed before Sunday's attempt at 1,500 meters.
You have asked if Narve will have a press conference. He will not have one. He does not want to, even though I strongly recommended him to have one, says press chief Øystein Jarlsbo according to Nettavisen.
Nordås: Wants to avoid trouble
The choice not to make himself available to the media before the World Championship competition goes against the Norwegian athletics association's rules, says Jarlsbo.
It is actually stated in the contracts that one is obliged to attend in connection with the championship.
When NRK catches Nordås for a short comment at a train station in the Japanese capital, he says the following about the choice to skip the press conference:
I do not want to comment on that much. I want to avoid creating too much trouble, tumult and worry, says Nordås.
Took bronze last time
Nordås, who will also run 5,000 meters, has had his own camp before the World Championship in Tokyo, together with his coach Gjert Ingebrigtsen. The same Ingebrigtsen was acquitted in June of allegations of assault against his son Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who will also run 1,500 meters on Sunday.
On the question of how the dialogue has been between the association and Nordås, press chief Øystein Jarlsbo answers:
It is quite bad in that he actually does not want to communicate with me.
He does not want to communicate with me even though he has just done so, to say that he does not want to communicate with me.
In the last World Championship, in Budapest 2023, Narve Gilje Nordås took bronze in 1,500 meters. Jakob Ingebrigtsen took silver, and the Brit Josh Kerr took gold.
