‘s newsroom was surprised why the Tour de Ski award ceremony was held without information about Frida Karlsson’s condition. Norwegian skiing legend Petter Northug also reacted strongly to the decision.
The Tour de Ski tour saw a confusing prize distribution in the women’s competition, if only Kerttu Niskanen and Tiril Udnes Weng went to pick up their prize from the overall competition.
Earlier, the number one in the overall competition, who crashed at the finish line Frida Karlsson was not involved in the award ceremony. He was announced as the winner, he was applauded and the Swedish national anthem was played in Karlsson’s honor.
The situation surprised ‘s newsroom.
– A slightly confusing moment. Somehow, it would seem more appropriate to hand out the awards when Karlsson’s situation becomes more clear, the narrator Kimmo Porttila stated.
– I was thinking the same thing. It would have been important to respect Frida Karlsson’s situation, expert Toni Roponen continued.
In Norway, people were also dismayed. The skiing legend who commented on the race on the Norwegian TV2 broadcast Petter Northug reacted strongly when the awards ceremony began.
– What is happening? Here’s the award ceremony with the Swedish national anthem without Frida Karlsson on the podium, Northug wondered (you switch to another service).
– This is not a good thing. The organizer should have waited until Frida was on her pole. This kind of thing happens maybe once in a lifetime.
Also teammates Anna Dyvik and Moa Ilar took a stand on the topic in Aftonbladet.
– That’s a bit sad. Should wait, Dyvik said.
– It’s a bummer. Frida deserves to stand on the podium and hear people’s cheers, praises and thanks. Frida pulled a magical Tour, Ilar said.
Sweden’s coach said that Karlsson had lost consciousness for a minute after reaching the goal. The Swedish star gave everything in the hard final climb of Alpe Cermis. Karlsson finished the climb in 15th place.
FIS cross-country competition coordinator Doris Kallen responded to the criticism For Aftonbladet (you will switch to another service).
– We thought about what to do. However, we were informed that Frida would not get up quickly. Then we have TV companies and men skiing. And other skiers going to the podium, Kallen told Aftonbladet.
Aftonbladet asked Kallen if they were thinking about organizing the women’s award ceremony after the men’s race.
– Many skiers want to go home right after their race. Other skiers would have missed the award ceremony if we had waited. We wouldn’t have had a full podium anyway. We felt we had to move on, Kallen stated.