Nothing has gone Norway's way in Tokyo. Jakob Ingebrigtsen has not competed at all this summer due to an injury. In the World Championship, he was eliminated already in the heats on 1,500 meters and then came tenth on 5,000 meters where he was the reigning world champion.
Also the reigning world champion on 400 meters hurdles, Karsten Warholm, missed defending the gold. He only came fifth in the final.
To make matters worse, the decathlete Sander Skotheim was disqualified in the hurdles and then chose to abandon the competition when the chance of a medal disappeared.
It's tough for the team, says Ingebrigtsen about the medal-less championship in Tokyo.
I think that when it goes well for one it goes well for all and when it starts going badly it goes badly for all.
Ingebrigtsen says that Norwegian athletics has had an extreme development in recent years and become better and better in each championship.
We have as a small nation been one of the most dominant. But then it's just a matter of time before the development gets a setback. It's a weakness that we have known about, he says.
But now we can make a restart and come back quickly to the European Championship in Birmingham.
The European Championship will be held in August next year.
