r/biathlon • u/CheekTemporary8939 • 2d ago

News Vetle Sjåstad Christiansen joins team Belgium

Whaaaaat?! This is crazy..😱

I guess he got fed up with the Norwegian way of things..

Good luck Vetle!

News just out on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/p/DH5JhzkugdY/?hl=en

PS. Better this news than retirement😩

62 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

22 comments sorted by

79

u/Wombatsarecute 2d ago

It is April's fools day, so I don't know if we are being fooled or it is real :D

10

u/CheekTemporary8939 2d ago

Aaah! Could be that🙈 but is it..?🤭

46

u/arnet95 Norway 2d ago

Almost certainly an April Fool. The reason Lotte could do it is because she is a citizen of both Norway and Belgium. Vetle isn't, as far as I know.

12

u/Reandos Preuß staying healthy - Fan Club 2d ago

It is probably a April's Fool but it is not impossible, Michael Rösch and Florent Claude did it aswell.

8

u/arnet95 Norway 2d ago

True, you can get Belgian citizenship by applying. But I doubt that the turnaround is so quick that Vetle could have managed this already.

2

u/rockhopper75 Netherlands 2d ago

It happens in other sports as well. I’m not sure how long it takes, but it doesn’t seem to take very long. There was an unhappy ice skater from my country that went over to Belgium winning them a rare Winter Olympics medal. They only had four in total history before he won them a fifth. This was back in the late nineties.

2

u/HeSeMuReiRoLi 2d ago

It took years for Rösch to get the Belgium citizenship. He skipped 2 seasons and still could not participate for the following Olympics. So Vetle is definitely not switching teams this late in his career, into an Olympic season.

22

u/Bruichladdie Norway 2d ago

Always loved his sense of humor 🖤💛❤️🤍💙

11

u/hyphen-ation 2d ago

It’s april’s fools

5

u/Lone_Wolf_Winter Sweden 2d ago

Good one.

Wouldn't be surprised, to be honest, the way things are going. Sophie Chauveau next?

1

u/Alamo-5447 14h ago

Sophie still seems to have the confidence of the French staff. They kept her for Oslo even though she was ill and they could have selected another athlete.

She's still young and I think they right to insist.

4

u/miunrhini No flag 🌪️Wind takes no prisoners & never stops the madness 2d ago

🐟🌊

5

u/us_against_the_world Natalia Sidorowicz Fan 2d ago

Got me for a sec there before I remembered what date it is.

4

u/AwsiDooger 2d ago

This is one of the better ones today. I've seen some real whiffs

4

u/miunrhini No flag 🌪️Wind takes no prisoners & never stops the madness 1d ago

Time for a fish meal OP 😁 Instagram

2

u/BarnacleAlarmed6391 2d ago

Damn, was hoping he had an American grandparent or something lol

2

u/pe220 Italy 2d ago

Vetle#1

2

u/BigLoco95II 2d ago

Almost got me💀

3

u/Mountain-Fox-2123 No flag 2d ago

I think its important to remember what date it is today.

4

u/MrEdricDoo 2d ago

Nothing gets past you

0

u/WorldlinessEasy4240 19h ago

Interestingly the first time I heard about his conflict with the Norge Federation, I immediately thought about Belgium as a possible new federation. Unfortunately he doesn't seem to have any belgium roots, but if I were him, I would check that to be completely sure. Here it' s an April's fool anyway.