Lisa Hörnblad described her conditions ahead of the season as dire, and said that there was no plan for her investment.
The Swedish Skiing Association responded to the criticism that there was indeed a plan created in consultation with Hörnblad.
When former superstar Anja Pärson is asked about Hörnblad, she says she is too ill-informed to comment on the specific situation, but says that historically there have been problems in communication between the skaters and the association.
However, she believes that ultimately it is the skater who is responsible for his own career.
– You can feel held back if you don’t have the conditions. I always tried to work on trying to make sure I had the necessary conditions and set those demands, says Anja Pärson.
“Of course you get frustrated”
At the same time, she understands Hörnblad’s frustration.
– If you don’t get someone to listen to you, then of course you get frustrated. Then the question in this situation is where the communication broke down. Because obviously the communication has broken down because they think differently, so it has to be better, says Pärson.
Lars Melin, alpine women’s manager for the Swedish national team since 2015, responds as follows in an email about Pärson’s statement:
“I can only speak based on the time I have been in the association and how I perceive communication to be today. As with all communication, you can have different ideas about what good or poor communication is, but from my perspective, I think that the arrangement we have regarding who is responsible for which issues works well overall. But if someone doesn’t think it works on occasion, we bring it up for discussion. We always try to improve things if we notice that something is not working.”
Hear Anja Pärson about how a Swedish speed effort optimally looks in the player at the top of the article.