Ukaleq Slettemark is an exotic at the Olympics. The only Greenlander cried after her first competition, likes to hunt and only eats the meat she has killed herself. Although there is no shooting range in her home country, she is a junior world champion and the best marksman in the field.
After her first biathlon race, Ukaleq Slettemark cried bitter tears. At the age of 14, the Greenlandic missed almost all targets in strong winds. A drama with announcement, because she hadn’t trained that before.
Then something happened that the now 20-year-old remembers to this day: “The Danish Crown Prince saw me crying, spontaneously ran to me and comforted me,” reports Slettemark t-online.
A lot has changed since then: The biathlete not only won the next two races without shooting errors, but also became Junior World Champion in 2019, made it into the World Cup a year later and is currently the best shooter in the field at the Olympic Games in China.
Olympic debut: After finishing 53rd in the individual, Ukaleq Slettemark narrowly missed out on qualifying for the pursuit, finishing 65th in the sprint. So she will no longer compete in China. (Source: VEGARD GRoTT/imago images)
“I’m very happy with my shooting”
In the individual and sprint races, all 30 shots found their way to the finish. That was enough for 53rd place in the individual and 65th place in the sprint. “I’m very happy with my shooting, but I just can’t keep up with my running,” says the young athlete, who won her junior world title three years ago even left Sweden’s star Elvira Öberg behind.
Slettemark isn’t concerned that it’s not enough for the top in the senior section: “I’m only 20 and want to improve slowly.”
Nevertheless, she would like to reach the top of the world at some point. The Greenlander doesn’t want to commit to just one point in time: “It could be in four, eight or twelve years. I’ll take my time.” But one thing is clear for Slettemark: “I have high goals, I want to be the best – that is, Olympic champion.”
Denise Herrmann won her first Olympic gold medal in singles in China. The German is one of the role models of Ukaleq Slettemark. (Source: VEGARD GRoTT/imago images)
Denise Herrmann as a role model
So it’s no wonder that the German Denise Herrmann – newly crowned Olympic champion in singles – is one of her “role models”. “Denise is a great athlete and an inspiration,” says Slettemark and reveals. “When I was asked to switch guns, I took inspiration from her rifle – especially when it comes to the grip when shooting standing.”
At least at the Olympic Games, Slettemark has already overtaken its role model at the shooting range. It is all the more astonishing that the Greenlandic woman is doing so well with a rifle because there is not even a shooting range in her home country.
“I really wish that would change,” explains Slettemark, but until that happens, she’ll be training in Norway. Slettemark attended a sports school there and is now working on her biathlon career in the Olympic city of Lillehammer.
Ukaleq Slettemark’s mother Uiloq was already a biathlete in the World Cup. (Source: GEPA pictures/imago images)
Father and Matter were both active in biathlon
It was almost inevitable that the 20-year-old would take this path. Because: The Slettemark family is crazy about biathlon. Father Oystein was the first Greenlandic biathlete to compete in the Olympic Games in Vancouver in 2010, mother Uiloq has competed 80 times in the World Cup and is President of the Biathlon Association of the world’s largest island.
In 2002, she didn’t make it to the Olympics because she was pregnant with Ukaleq. “When I was a baby, my parents always took me to the races, so I grew up with biathlon,” reports Ukaleq Slettemark.
As a child she lived in Norway – her father is Norwegian by birth – and trained once a week. Then the family moved to Greenland, where Slettemark focused on cross-country skiing. It was only after the episode mentioned at the beginning that we went back to Norway.
“Reindeer – that tastes best”
The 20-year-old is therefore only rarely in her home country. “I return to Greenland once a year, usually in July and August – for the hunting season,” reveals Slettemark, who has been a keen hunter since she was a child.
“That’s what I grew up with. Even when I was little, there was always reindeer in the summer – it simply tastes best,” she says. In Greenland everyone hunts. That’s why she only eats her own hunted meat. “It’s an ethical thing – I just don’t like industrially produced meat. That’s why we really only eat reindeer and fish.”
Ukaleq Slettemark was born in the Greenlandic capital of Nuuk. In the meantime, she only comes to her home country once a year. (Source: Imagix/imago images)
So does her marksmanship at the shooting range come from early hunting experience? “I don’t know,” says the 20-year-old and laughs. She is also not just for hunting in Greenland. When there is snow, of course, cross-country skiing is also practiced. Mind you, on natural snow.
artificial plants – “very strange”
On the other hand, she finds the Olympic facilities in China, which are completely artificial, strange: “Of course it’s very strange,” says Slettemark. “But what could you have done differently? Nobody else wanted the games. And if nobody wants the games the way they are now – maybe they should change them so that they are played on real snow and in real nature again be able.”
When the time comes, Slettemark also hopes to parade with the Greenlandic flag at the Olympic opening ceremony. Because Greenland is officially an autonomous part of the Kingdom of Denmark, she is currently part of the Danish delegation. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) does not recognize the island as a separate country.
In the Biathlon World Cup, on the other hand, Slettemark is allowed to start for Greenland and Greenland has also participated in a handball world championship with its own team. “I don’t really understand it,” explains Slettemark. “While I’m proud to compete for the Kingdom of Denmark, I would obviously prefer to compete for my own country.”
After all, the young Greenlander presented her roots on her racing suit, which she designed with Inuit Tunniit markings. And even the Danes would describe her as “a Greenlandic biathlete competing for Denmark”.
“The IOC should change that,” says Slettemark with a smile. She describes it as a big dream “to take part in the opening ceremony at the next Winter Games with the Greenlandic flag.” In her tearful first race six years ago, Slettemark could never have imagined that.
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