There is nothing new in Greenland doing really well in badminton at the Arctic Winter Games. Still, it is worth noting that all players at the finals on Friday got a medal around their necks – several of them got more than one.
It ended with five gold, six silver and three bronze for Team Kalaallit Nunaat.
- It has gone well. We have taken a lot of medals home and all our players have got medals, so we are very satisfied, says coach Miko Schiøtt Kongstad, who says that it has gone according to expectations.
When asked which teams challenged the Greenlandic players the most, he replies that Alberta North is always one of the tough opponents.
- You could also see that in the final matches, it was almost all players from Alberta that we played against in the finals and also in some of the bronze matches.
- But Yukon has surprised a bit this time, at least in their oldest boys, we have had quite a bit of resistance from them too, he says.
Will strength train in the future
Although the AWG has only just ended for the badminton players, it is not too early to look ahead. In two years, the best athletes in the Arctic will meet again, and there are some things that Miko Schiøtt Kongstad hopes the Greenlandic athletes will focus on.
- We often suffer from overuse injuries that appear along the way, so on that front we should have figured out how to motivate them to do strength training leading up to and preferably some time before, he says.
He says that they are quite well prepared in terms of badminton and train what they need to in their local clubs.
This time they have gained an experience that he can see them repeating in the future.
- This time we have also gathered the whole team in Nuuk two days before we were to leave and had two training days. We haven't had that the other times, and it has also been really good. It has prepared them a bit better, because they don't usually play together in the constellations we have, says Miko Schiøtt Kongstad.
On Saturday there will be a closing ceremony before Team Kalaallit Nunaat flies to Greenland on Sunday.
