DUAL CITIZEN ISSUE IN NORWAY

Read Time:2 Minute, 10 Second

CHANGAMOTO ZA URAIA PACHA NCHINI NORWAY

Sophia Laukli was second in the NM three-mile, but did not get a medal. Astrid Øyre Slind believes the Norwegian-American deserves the medal the updalen herself got for her fourth place. Therese Johaug (35) was absolutely superb in the NM three-mile in Lillehammer last Saturday. The nearest competitor finished two minutes and 49 seconds behind.

It was Sophia Laukli. The 23-year-old lives in Oslo, represents Kjelsås IL and the Norwegian team Team Aker Dæhlie, and is a Norwegian citizen.

But Sophia Laukli is also an American citizen, raised in Maine and represents the United States internationally.

That is why it was Magni Smedås who took silver in the Norwegian championship, while Astrid Øyre Slind – who came fourth in the race – got the bronze medal.

The NM regulations state: “For runners with more than one national citizenship, the nation in which they have permanent residence is the correct nation. When changing citizenship, a waiting period of 12 months applies.”

As we have no way of checking where the athletes have a permanent place of residence, we rely on a FIS licence. If you have competed nationally or internationally for another nation in the past year, you cannot win a medal in the National Championships, says Erik Huseby, who is responsible for cross-country skiing in the Norwegian Ski Association.
⁠Deserves it more
Huseby points out that this is part of the Norwegian Ski Association’s joint regulations and is practiced equally in all branches.

What happened has nevertheless become a major topic of conversation in the cross-country environment and not least among those involved. Astrid Øyre Slind was quick on Instagram and wrote that Laukli could get her medal.

It was because she did a much better race than me, so I felt that she deserved it more than I did, says Slind to NRK.
⁠My thought was that she has a Norwegian passport and goes to the NM for a Norwegian club, and is a fantastic representative and is an athlete that maybe it would have been a bit cool for Norway to embrace a bit.

Laukli says that she was unsure whether she could win a medal when she set out in the NM three-mile race. During the first part of the National Championships earlier this winter, she was told that she could not win a medal.

But then nobody knew that I had a Norwegian passport, says Laukli, who experienced a bit of chaos when it became known before the start of Lillehammer that she was actually a Norwegian citizen.