PHOTO: Bildbyrån
Sweden had a real dream start to the ski season this weekend.
And the one everyone is talking about is of course Moa Ilar.
Now the skiing icon Gunde Svan gives a very beautiful tribute to the successful Swede.
The premiere weekend of the World Cup in Ruka, Finland, was one big blue-yellow victory party on the women’s side. Emma Ribom arranged the dream start already on Friday by winning the sprint race ahead of his teammate Jonna Sundling.
Ilar’s great success
Then hit Ebba Andersson to on Saturday by taking the season’s first World Cup victory and on Sunday everyone would witness a super blast in the two mile. Moa Ilar had shown already on Saturday that she will be counted on this winter through a new personal best at the World Cup with a fourth place.
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But then came the mass start and Ilar exceeded all expectations once again by pulling away from all riders and taking home the very first World Cup victory of his career. The 26-year-old outshine his blue-and-yellow teammates Frida Karlsson and Ebba Andersson perfectly with a perfect tactic.
Gunde’s tribute
The Swede kept a cool head the whole race and saved her strength for the last hill where she put in an extra gear and shocked everyone. One who is extremely impressed by Ilar’s progress is the Swedish skiing icon Gunde Swanwhich celebrates this breakthrough in a big way.
– We will see a lot more of her. I think so. With the wisdom and tactical disposition she shows, he admits in SVT’s “Vinterstudion”.
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Svan is full of admiration for Moa Ilar and puts into words what all Swedes think after the premiere weekend. Namely, the perfect tactic that was behind the Swede’s big splash.
– I was sitting on the sofa and talking to my wife Marie and we thought: “She goes exactly with what she has”. She lets the others pull away from her sometimes because she feels like she’s running red and getting too much acid. She knows that she is good downhill and makes the most of the parts where she skis the best, says Gunde in the TV program.
READ MORE: Linn Svahn’s honest words about the scandal race in the premiere of the World Cup – they are now forced to apologize: “My God”
Gunde Svan has had an eye on the 26-year-old ever since she was a junior in Dalarna. After having to struggle for many years, she is now reaching her full potential.
– She has tried this for a few years and she was doing it in her youth, I know her quite well since then, because she competed on the youth side together with my son Ferry at the time. So I’ve shepherded a few skis for Moa over the years as well and now she really shows this lazy, that nothing is impossible and that you have to keep believing in yourself. She really shows that, says the legendary cross-country skier in SVT.
– When Ludvig (Svan, reporter at Viaplay and son-in-law) asked there before the start: “Can you win?”. Then she replied: “Yes”, it is a barrier that must be thought of in advance and broken in order for you to be able to implement that – rather than it just being a utopia. But you have to believe in yourself and you have to get into a certain situation before you dare to say it. Now Moa said it and it became reality.
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