Facts: Swedish WC medals in the 2000s
2001 in St. Anton
Gold: Anja Pärson, slalom. Bronze: Pärson, giant slalom.
2003 in St. Moritz
Gold: Anja Pärson, giant slalom.
2005 in Bormio
Gold: Anja Pärson, giant slalom and super-G. Silver: Person, combination.
2007 in Åre
Gold: Anja Pärson, super-G, combination and downhill. Silver: Maria Pietilä-Holmner, giant slalom, team (Anna Ottosson, Anja Pärson, Patrik Järbyn, Hans Olsson, Jens Byggmark, Marcus Larsson). Bronze: Pärson, slalom, Patrik Järbyn, downhill.
2009 in Val d’Isère
No Swedish medals.
2011 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen
Silver: Jens Byggmark, slalom. Bronze: Anja Pärson, combination, Maria Pietilä Holmner, slalom, team (Anja Pärson, Maria Pietilä Holmner, Hans Olsson, Matts Olsson).
2013 in Schladming
Silver: Team (Jens Byggmark, Nathalie Eklund, Frida Hansdotter, Mattias Hargin, André Myhrer, Maria Pietilä Holmner). Bronze: Hansdotter, slalom.
2015 in Beaver Creek
Silver: Frida Hansdotter, slalom. Bronze: Jessica Lindell Vikarby, giant slalom, team (Maria Pietilä Holmner, Anna Swenn Larsson, Mattias Hargin, André Myhrer).
2017 in St. Moritz
Bronze: Frida Hansdotter, slalom, team (Hansdotter, Maria Pietilä Holmner, Mattias Hargin, André Myhrer).
2019 in Åre
Silver: Anna Swenn Larsson, slalom.
2021 in Cortina
Silver: Team (Estelle Alphand, Sara Hector, Kristoffer Jakobsen, Mattias Rönngren).
2023 in Méribel and Courchevel
So far no medals.
Hanna Aronsson Elfman can – if everything goes the WC debutant’s way – take a bronze in the afternoon’s second slalom run.
And Kristoffer Jakobsen – if he recovers and is on his feet for two runs – is an outsider when the championship ends with the men’s slalom in Courchevel tomorrow, Sunday.
There are many ifs and buts – and as the country is, the probability is high that it will end as badly as in Val d’Isère in 2009, the last time Swedish skiers did not pack a single medal in their luggage on the journey home.
In both the team competition and the parallel competition earlier this week, hopes were raised for Swedish representation on the podium.
The outcome: A failure bordering on fiasco in both.
And Sara Hector didn’t come close to taking her first individual WC medal in the giant slalom last Thursday.
Instead, tears flowed.
“Then I lay there”
A fate that also befell Anna Swenn Larsson already in today’s first slalom run on the Roc de Fer piste.
“It’s difficult to immediately analyze what happened after a ride, but I had a carving throw and… well, then I was lying there,” she tells TT.
She got up, crawled up and past the gate, but of course the day was ruined, 6.60 seconds behind leader Mikaela Shiffrin as she was after the ride.
TT: It was looking very good up until then, wasn’t it?
— Yes, I felt in very good shape, so what is happening is very sad. I had decided today not to regret anything, not to come down a second and a half later.
— I wanted to go for it and I did and I’m proud of that. Then it was a stupid mistake, absolutely.
— I have had a career that has been a lot back and forth. Right now it obviously feels too damn good, but I know I’ll be back even if it will take a while. It’s better now than in the Olympics last year. Then I was out of the game because I went and “safed”. I would have regretted it if I had done it today.
Hanna Aronsson Elfman is eighth ahead of the second slalom race in the WC in Méribel.
Sara Hector and Hanna Aronsson Elfman suffered with their teammate, but chose to let Swenn Larsson deal with the immediate, palpable disappointment.
— I didn’t see the ride, but I heard she was fast. She can take that with her. She gets to take the fast turns with her for next time, says Aronsson Elfman.
Breaks apart
TT: How do you handle it in the team?
— You break up and come back soon. You have no choice. Otherwise you get depressed.
Sarah Hector:
— I give her some space so that she has time to land a little. She rode great.
TT: Did you see her ride?
— No, I don’t usually look at others. You get a little emotionally involved and you prefer not to know.