Photo: Bildbyrån
A first session of skiing on snow, that’s what Frida Karlsson’s feet were ready for.
Now she is forced to skip the national team’s training camp to pedal around on a bicycle in Tenerife instead in her solitude.
How can this happen again? How many times will Frida fall into the same trap?
This is a comment. The opinions are the writer’s own.
The other day everything was peace and joy. Maja Dahlqvist posted a video on Instagram where you could see how she and her best friend Frida Karlsson glided along the ski track in Vålådalen. First pass on snow. Expectations were built up. People wrote that it looked good. Just a couple of days later, the situation is completely different.
Have been training a little TOO well
The news hit like a bomb just after lunch on Friday. Frida Karlsson, one of Sweden’s biggest medal hopes during the WC in Trondheim next year, will not accompany the national team group to the Italian Val Senales. A foot injury prevents her from training normally. Instead, a solo camp awaits in Tenerife. There she is going, admittedly in the company of her mother Mia Karlssonengage in cycling and strength training. What a miscalculation!
The foot therefore only lasted for one pass on snow. Then Frida, who during an emergency press conference told us that she had trained superbly during the summer, felt that something was not right. Maybe she has trained a little TOO well and hard before the final sprint of the pre-season? It wouldn’t be the first time it’s happened.
READ MORE: Tough news for Frida Karlsson – forced to leave the national skiing team
If you Google “Frida Karlsson overtrained”, you get a whole bunch of articles that have circulated on the internet over the years. She has been forced to cancel competitions and training before. It is not the first time she has gone too hard even before the start of the season, although it is understandable that she wants to be extra prepared now that the WC is a couple of months away.
“Shouldn’t you have taken it a little more easy? Shouldn’t the national team coaches and physiotherapists say stop? Do you blame yourself? Haven’t you learned anything from the previous times? Don’t you do regular tests?”. So sounded the questions that the journalists asked Frida during the Friday afternoon. She kept calm, said it was largely her own fault. That she doesn’t feel pain until it’s too late.
Really pissed off
I still don’t understand how she, along with her trainers and doctors, can let this happen again. Hasn’t she really, after more than seven years at the top of the world, learned to take it easy every now and then? I think more people than me are actually pissed off. Her whole life revolves around skiing, training, her body. Surely she must be able to sense how it feels before it’s too late? Sigh!
Now at least I feel that the WC is in danger. Maybe not so much that she is injured for five months and won’t be able to perform. But the upload becomes completely distorted. She won’t have done too many ski sessions on snow until the season starts. She said herself that she hopes to be back in Bruksvallarna and in Ruka. But I’m unsure. Right now, she can’t seem to do anything but ride a bike.
I’m afraid she’ll be too far behind the other riders. That she won’t have time to find her form before it’s already time to be at her best. If there is no WC medal in Trondheim in March, I think that both Frida and her closest will be upset with themselves. How could they let this happen? If it is now true that she will stop after the WC in Falun 2027, she cannot afford to let this championship fall by the wayside.
READ MORE: Therese Johaug’s doubts about Frida Karlsson’s future plans
She says it’s her own fault. That she now has to do whatever it takes to get back and get back on track. That she hopes to be back for the premiere. That she still has high hopes for the WC. Now it’s up to proof for perhaps Sweden’s biggest long-distance star. It doesn’t work to brush this situation off either. Unfortunately, she doesn’t have many chances.
Hopefully Frida realizes that something has to change. That she has to do the job and be as thorough as possible so that she can find her way back to shape again.
Do you think she will manage to stay injury-free and healthy in time for the premiere? We are of course keeping our fingers crossed that 2024/2025 will be a successful year for both Frida and her national team mates. Hello Sweden!
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