On a mat, Edvard Kruse and Angunnguaq Mathiassen sit and smile a little at each other as they interlock their middle fingers.
The two teammates are set to compete for the gold in the men's open finger pull at the 2026 Arctic Winter Games. Erneq Nielsen has already won bronze.
In finger pull, the athletes must interlock their middle fingers on their right hand, and then it's all about who can hold on the best. They repeat the competition in two positions.
On Thursday, Angunnguaq Mathiassen had to be beaten by Edvard Kruse in both positions, and thus Edvard Kruse won the gold.
And so it was three athletes from Team Kalaallit Nunaat who were able to stand on the podium.
A sight that coach Alfred Lindenhann was very pleased with.
- I am really happy with the results. We had also expected that we could achieve it. We have fought to get the best results, he says.
Kristine Sigurdsen won gold in finger pull in the open category for the women, while Danny Clasen won bronze for the U18 men.
It only takes one small mistake to lose
Finger pull requires a lot of strength in the hands and is a technically challenging discipline, where there are strict rules for how the athletes can move their fingers to avoid injuries.
However, much of the strength comes from the athletes' daily lives, says Alfred Lindenhann.
- It is very personal training for the athletes. The men are fishermen, that's why they have strong fingers. Most of them are villagers. That's why they have such strong hands.
- It's mostly technique that they had to learn. It was a problem at the beginning when we learned finger pull. We made a lot of mistakes there. Now we've learned it, he says, pointing out that it only takes a small mistake to lose.
Friday is the last day of competition in the Dene Games, where the athletes will compete in pole push, where they will fight to push a large wooden pole over to the opponent's half of the field. Alfred Lindenhann thinks that Team Kalaallit Nunaat has done well in the Dene Game all week and also expects that they can win medals tomorrow.
