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Frida Karlsson has had an absolutely brilliant ski season.
But now comes unexpected criticism from Norway about the Swedish skiing star.
“It’s a hell of a lot of money,” writes a financial journalist in Norway.
The ski season is over and the Swedish national team star Frida Karlsson can sum up an absolutely brilliant season in the tracks. The 23-year-old from Sollefteå exceeded many people’s expectations, impressed greatly, where the overall victory in the Tour de Ski stands out the most.
Frida’s message of joy
The Ski World Cup was also very successful for the Swede, who won medals in all four races she competed in with double World Cup silver and double World Cup bronze from the championship in Planica. But it has also been a difficult season for Frida, who suffered from illness and exhaustion during the winter.
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She was recently rewarded with a total of 2.4 million Swedish kroner in prize money from the World Cup together with a bonus from the ski association. A happy news that still arouses unexpectedly strong reactions from the Norwegian side.
“To begin with, I am surprised that there is not more. Even though I live in Norway where cross-country skiing is almost a religion, I haven’t really kept up this year, but I caught her winning the Tour de Ski and taking a bunch of medals in the WC. 2.4 million is surely not more than what Johannes Hösflot Kläbo burns on hair gel,” writes the freelance journalist and economist Mike Larsson in the blog Sparo, he was born in Sweden but now lives in Norway.
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The criticism from Norway
He then develops his analysis of Frida Karlsson’s financial message of happiness.
“Out of the 2.4 million, roughly half go to the state and now a little over half a year awaits with very low incomes for skiers. She had a few million in her company before this year’s season and now it might have been one more, but in less than ten years her career will be over. If she manages to stay in the world elite and has her health, it could be good money, but in the meantime, she trains seven days a week, is forced to adapt her whole life accordingly and sacrifices almost everything from social interaction, the possibility of having children, etc.,” writes Larsson in the blog.
“It’s not that I feel sorry for Frida Karlsson. She has had the opportunity to turn her hobby into a job and makes money from it. Good money! If we jump down a couple of notches in the national team, there are no million incomes and they put in just as many hours on the track and in the gym.”
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The financial journalist is also critical of how Frida Karlsson and her prize money are portrayed as a luxury life for the skiing star. Where most of it is about what she is going to do for the money now according to the evening papers, which arouses strong irritation in the writer.
“If I were Frida Karlsson, the rich skiing star, I would have wanted to answer that the goal is to buy your magazine and close it down. By then, the “secret bonus amounts” from personal sponsors would probably have burned in, but what’s the point of spending hell money if you can’t ask someone to do just that at some point?”, writes Micke Larsson in his blog.
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