– It was a strange race. It was very calm at first and we just lay there and waited, Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal told NRK.
The opening pace in the WC finals was relaxed. The first 1000 meters were crossed after 3 minutes 14 seconds. But then Guday Tsegay from Ethiopia increased his speed.
Grøvdal and British Jessica Judd off the field. As his speed stabilized, he showed no signs of wanting to close the hatch anytime soon.
The experts were dumbfounded by that choice
NRK commentator Jann Post was surprised that he was unable to keep up with the close group as lap times were close to what Grøvdal ran when he set a Norwegian record at Bislett in June with 14.31.07.
REAR SQUAD: Jessica Judd and Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal lay at the very back with a good distance to the front row.
Photo: Stian Lysberg Solum / NTB
– Is it a bad day or a cold reckoning? Post ask.
Grøvdal pointed to the latter after the race:
– My body is not very good at extreme sprinting. I was cold and knew I was going to catch half the court.
NRK expert Vebjørn Rodal thought it looked like an odd choice.
– Strange
But Grøvdal spent the last five rounds picking runners. He passed Emily Infeld, Nozomi Tanaka and broke away from Judd. He then chose Eilish McColgan, Gloria Kite and Elise Cranny.
– Looks like the form is still there. Weird race plan, said NRK commentator Jann Post as it neared the end.
– One could say that at the World Cup I had to hang in there and all that, but if I had “annihilated”, I would have cracked, like the Americans, explained Grøvdal.
The world champion was Tsegay with a time of 14:46.29 minutes, ahead of Beatrice Chebet of Kenya and Dawit Seyaum of Ethiopia.
Eighth place is Grøvdal’s best position in the WC.
Sifan Hassan is the only European ahead of him, which could bode well ahead of the European Championships in Munich in less than a month. Hassan didn’t start there.
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