Maja Dahlqvist has left Sweden’s training group.
Now the star talks about the decision again.
– It’s not the same sport now, she says.
Recently, Sweden has been enormously spoiled with talented cross-country skiers on the women’s side. The Swedish national team is the world’s best sprint team, and one who has given Sweden its reputation is, among others, Maja Dahlqvist.
Left the national team
The Swede was completely dominant during the start of last season and won several straight World Cup competitions. Later in the competition year, she traveled home from the Olympics in Beijing with three medals, and to top it off, she won the overall sprint cup.
For next season, several of Sweden’s top cross-country skiers have chosen to drop out of the national team and instead make their own bid towards the WC 2023. Maja Dahlqvist is one who has made that decision. Linn Svahn and Frida Karlsson will also train on their own – and Dahlqvist now believes that it may become a trend for more and more people to drive themselves.
– It’s not the same skiing now as it was five years ago. Development moves forward and you have to follow the development. We don’t train exactly the same as we did five years ago, she tells TT.
“I don’t feel like Judas”
The decision to leave the national team has caused many reactions. Maja Dahlqvist, on the other hand, believes that those who have been closest to her have been understanding of the decision.
– I don’t feel like Judas. The group is great. Both girls and boys. What I now feel the most is towards all younger skiers. I have always dreamed of being in the A team. That is what you strive for. So there are now three people who are not participating this year.
She continues:
– If I’m going to go and be with the team, I think you should do things better and optimize things. I want to leave and feel that here I develop to one hundred percent as a skier and not just be at a camp because it’s fun. It will give me something.
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