Frida Karlsson had a tough Olympics.
Now the Swedish star knows what went wrong – and how to avoid it in the future.
– It became a lesson, she says.
The Swedish cross-country skier is one of the world’s best in the sport. Expectations for her were high ahead of last season’s major sporting event – namely the Beijing Olympics.
Collapsed in the Olympics
Frida Karlsson had started the season in a brilliant way and won the first two World Cup competitions of the season. Then she was in good form during the Tour de Ski – but finally chose to cancel the tour after her chances of victory were crushed.
She turned home and put all her energy into getting in shape for the Olympics. Instead, the Swedish star had an incredibly tough time, collapsing in the goal line several times during the championship. Before the last race of the championship, she was pushed from going because she wasn’t quite there, both physically and mentally.
She then left the championships without an individual medal, but with a bronze in the women’s relay.
Was a lesson learned
– Then and then I thought it was crap. But somewhere I started thinking about what I should do to get better. Sometimes you have to be down to find a solution and make it even better, says Frida Karlsson to TT and continues:
– If I’m half-good all the time, there’s no warning bell ringing that it’s time to make a change.
She has now analyzed the season, which did not quite turn out as she had imagined, and hopes to learn from it in the future.
– I was in good shape at the beginning of the season, but didn’t realize that I was then at my maximum for what the body can handle. I gassed up before the Olympics instead of keeping in shape. It was a lesson and now I know my body better.
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