The Norwegian Biathlon Association will now fill the starting position of the late Sivert Bakken at the World Cup in Oberhof. Team manager Per Arne Botnan confirmed this on Wednesday. Instead of Bakken, Isak Frey, who was originally transferred to the IBU Cup, will run.
“He will get the place that was actually Sivert’s, but I hope it can be an honor to wear Sivert’s starting number,” Botnan told NRK. Bakken, the official continued, “probably would have least wanted the seat to remain vacant.”
For Frey, the decision to take over his late teammate’s starting position was not an easy one. “The whole situation is absolutely cruel. I thought for a long time whether I should take Sivert’s place or not,” said the 22-year-old.
Ultimately, however, he came to the realization that starting in Oberhof was “the best way to honor him,” said Frey: “If there is a man who would have wanted this place to be used, it would be Sivert. He loved biathlon, sport at the highest level and professionalism. The best thing is to carry these thoughts into the future and at the same time honor him.”
Bakken’s cause of death remains unclear
Bakken was found dead in his hotel room in Lavazè the day before Christmas. An autopsy has already been carried out, but a final report on the cause of death could not be available until early March.
There is currently speculation as to whether the use of a so-called altitude mask was responsible for the biathlete’s death. The investigators have so far neither been able nor willing to confirm or deny this. For safety reasons, the Norwegian association initially banned its athletes from using such a mask, which is not part of their own training program.