Angermund Returns to Zegama

Stian himself posted about it on his Instagram account:

This weekend, I’ll be back in the trail-running world. I’m in Zegama for Sunday’s trail marathon. I’m both excited and scared to return.

Also worth pointing out is the hashtag he ended his post with: #cleanathletewithaban.

Here’s an example that quite nicely connects to the previous post. Are we giving Stian “nuance and grace”, the way our sport has operated in the past and maybe still in many ways? Or are we recognizing that Stian is an elite athlete that wasn’t able to clear his name from having been caught doping?

He served his ban and U-trail asks the question (auto-translated):

Should we let him run? Yes, because his sentence is served. But that doesn’t mean we have to applaud him.

Stian is returning to racing on one of the biggest stages of our sport. It will be fascinating to see how the spectators will respond. And the race organization. Does Zegama do doping controls?