Gunde Svan is Sweden’s most world champion in cross-country skiing.
And no one was particularly surprised when he did break through.
His numbers as a little boy are among the absolute sickest we’ve seen.
It all started with a competition called the “Parvel chute”. It was Skamhed between Vansbro and Dala-Järna, and no one could have guessed that Gunde Svan, just a child at the time, would grow up to become perhaps Sweden’s best cross-country skier of all time.
A wonderful one
Because that’s what he ended up being, Gunde Svan. Already as a teenager, he broke through with a bang, and he quickly settled into a high-profile men’s national team where, among others, Thomas Wassberg was housed. Svan won a total of seven WC gold medals during his career, the most of all time in Swedish cross-country skiing, and he is a given name in the Swedish history books.
Gunde Svan immediately became a crowd favorite with his straightforward manner and manner, and with his almost unique winner’s skull. He became the big favorite of all of Sweden, but people in skiing circles knew about Gunde long before he had even done his first World Cup competition in the blue and yellow suit. It came as no great shock that it would be a success story as far as he was concerned.
READ MORE: Gunde Svan’s heartwarming gesture to Thomas Fogdö – after the accident that changed everything: “Just felt, what the hell…”
Incredible numbers
Gunde Svan was already labeled as a child prodigy at the age of twelve, and it was perhaps not so strange. That year he competed in 17 competitions. He won all 17. It’s no secret that Gunde Svan was talented as a child – but this number is truly nothing short of completely unparalleled.
When Gunde Svan was 16, he won the youth championship, and two years later he became JVM champion, and a few years later the international breakthrough was a real fact. In 1984 he won the Bragdguldet, and even then cemented his place as one of the truly great sports heroes in Sweden.
READ MORE: The truth about Thomas Wassberg and Gunde Svan revealed – the arch-rival breaks the myth after 40 years