PHOTO: Bildbyrån
Sweden has dominated the women’s side during the World Ski Championships so far.
While Norway has done the same on the men’s side so far.
Now comes an unexpected outcome that has singled out the big winner so far: Russia.
The medals have been pouring in for our Swedish women skiers so far. Jonna Sundling has already won double WC gold, Emma Ribom has won the first two WC medals of his career in the form of gold and silver, Ebba Andersson has won his very first WC gold and Frida Karlsson has had a good start with WC silver as well.
Russia benefits
In the same way that our Swedish ladies have dominated, the Norwegian men have done the same on the other side, where they have seized all the gold medals so far. When the skiathlon was decided on Friday, it was also not entirely surprising that triple Norwegian was on the podium.
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There is also no indication that the dominance will wane as the World Ski Championships enter their second and final week of competition. But those who will unfortunately be the big winner of this Swedish-Norwegian dominance are still Russia.
“Norway has won all three competitions on the men’s side. On the women’s side, the Swedish dominance is just as clear. This is fun if you want the small world of cross-country skiing to be a Norwegian-Swedish division, but it is hardly something that makes the skiing world feel better. Then it is also unfortunately just to state: The Russian riders are missing”, writes the columnist Johan Esk in Dagens Nyheter.
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Great concern is growing
At the last Olympics in 2022 in Beijing, the Russian skaters managed to win three out of six Olympic golds on the men’s side and the Russian women won Olympic gold in the long relay. Now those gaps have been filled by Sweden and Norway, who dominate on each side, and in his column, Esk compares cross-country skiing to the Bandy World Cup, where pretty much the same nation wins every year.
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Now, a strong concern for the future of the sport is growing around the world.
“If the world top continues to be this narrow, it puts pressure on the governing bodies of the International Ski Federation (FIS) long-distance section to let the Russians in. Twice since Russia started its war of aggression against Ukraine and the Russian riders were suspended, there have been rumors that Fis would lift the suspension. Both times it has been denied. When the International Olympic Committee starts to open the Russian door, it will be difficult for Fis to keep it closed in his sport. When the top of the world only gets narrower, it becomes even more difficult,” writes the DN columnist.
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Johan Esk nevertheless strongly distances himself from allowing Russian skiers into cross-country skiing again. But the way it looks right now in the skiing World Cup, it is only Russia that benefits from this development against two such dominant skiing nations in Sweden and Norway that grab all the medals in a major championship.
“There is still no reason whatsoever to let Russian and Belorussian athletes into the heat again. Claiming that it’s ‘a pity that innocent athletes are affected’, it’s just slush. Those who release such slush have a strange ability to forget the Ukrainian athletes who would be forced to compete against Russians,” he writes in his column.
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