Petter Northug drove the Swedish team crazy – even though Frida Karlsson won, and Ebba Andersson came third.
Now Karlsson strikes back.
– It is difficult, she says.
Frida Karlsson kicked off the 20-kilometer race in Norway on Sunday. She immediately got a big gap down to a cluster, where Ebba Andersson, among others, was lying. But after a bit into the race, Ebba Andersson decided to take up the fight in the bunch, and several people hooked up.
Saw by Northug
Soon the distance to Karlsson was gone. In the Norwegian television channel TV2, Petter Northug sat and shook his head. He called the Swedish tactics “hopeless”‚ and believed that Ebba Andersson should have stayed and slowed down in the bunch behind Karlsson, to give the Swede an easier path to victory. Northug continued to swing after the race, which Frida Karlsson eventually managed to win anyway.
Ebba Andersson finished third, and afterwards Frida Karlsson hit back against Northug. She said that Sweden had not discussed any tactics, or what would happen if a skater decided to stick.
– That is difficult. If you feel energetic, then you have to go with everything you have, says Karlsson to Norwegian VG.
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“It would have been difficult”
Frida Karlsson says that she would have found it difficult to obey if she had received instructions not to knit if she felt energetic.
– Yes, it would have been very difficult. I’m not going to put anything on Ebba here, because I would probably have done the same thing myself, she says.
Tiril Udnes Weng was one who managed to keep up with Ebba Andersson when she pulled away, but she lost in the race against Frida Karlsson. She also does not feel that Ebba Andersson did anything wrong in the race.
– If it had been a championship, it would be a little different, but it is a World Cup race, and Ebba certainly feels that she had the opportunity to overtake the victory, and then I think she is doing exactly the right thing.
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