PHOTO: Bildbyrån
Frida Karlsson risks missing the start of the season.
She has directed criticism at herself after the tough setback.
Now the Swedish national ski team is announcing the star skier.
The Swedish national ski team is fully loaded for the new winter season. Towards the end of the month, it’s time for the national premiere in Bruksvallarna, and then the premiere weekend awaits at the World Cup in Ruka.
Karlsson’s setback
But when the blue-and-yellow national team skaters sharpen their form and polish the last details, they find themselves Frida Karlsson in Tenerife. Where she is forced into alternative training and rehabilitation after the unexpected setback that was revealed last week.
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Due to a foot injury that led to overload in the groin, the Swedish cross-country star cannot practice skiing yet. This is not the first time that Karlsson has suffered from overload and she has been very self-critical of her own actions.
– I kind of think “damn, how stupid I am to make the same mistake again”. At the same time, I find it difficult to feel pain. When I feel something, it’s usually too late, she said recently at a press conference.
– It differs somewhat for all of us endurance athletes, in which way you get tired. Some get sick, others get injury problems, for me it’s been this foot that’s been bothering me on and off for several years really. As I said, this summer was very good and maybe it was a little too much.
The national team’s response
It is highly unclear when Frida Karlsson can start going to proper ski training again.
– I can’t make a long-term plan, we have to take it day by day. I have constant contact with my physiotherapist at home. We want to see that things are going in the right direction all the time. Hopefully I might be able to fit in some staking at the end, but otherwise it will just be a bike. I try to take the whole situation in stride. I won’t have time to ski that much before it starts, but I hope to be fit for the fight for the season premiere in Bruksvallarna, she says in a first statement.
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The Swedish national ski team’s medical team together with her own physiotherapist maintain a close dialogue with Karlsson. Now the national team is speaking out about the situation surrounding the 25-year-old.
– First of all, the national team works with a medical team with doctors and a number of physiotherapists. Which in turn creates a dialogue with the rider’s own physio. It is of course important that it flows. These are things we work on and develop every year. We adapt the load according to the injury you have and constantly have a close dialogue about what is best. It is a balancing act what can be done in training to keep it up. That’s the dilemma of working at the ultimate elite level; we have to find ways even if you have an injury, says the coach of the women’s national team Stefan Thomson to långd.se and admits that it is sad that Frida has not managed to stay on the right side of the border.
– Of course you study yourself, but I think we have done a lot right. We prefer to be on the border, but on the right side, and it’s always sad when you step over the wrong side of the border. On the whole, I think we did most things right.
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