Photo: Bildbyrån
Linn Svahn thinks the Tour de Ski was better before.
Now she wants to see a change.
– It was a bit more varied before, and I would have liked more of that, she tells SVT Sport.
Despite a fine finish, especially in the second sprint, came Lynn Svahn25, in 18th place in the overall Tour de Ski standings. The sprint star is unfortunately too weak in the longer distances for it to be a better placement.
Linn Svahn’s criticism of the Tour de Ski
The climb up the classic Alpe Cermis is not Svahn’s best branch either. She came in 24th place in the final stage. Even though she herself is not the most all-round skier, she really thinks that the Tour de Ski should return to being a tough tour with several different types of stages and distances, as was more evident before.
– When the Tour de Ski was introduced, there were extremely different stages. Then maybe you really bring out the ultimate skier, and I would like to see that again, she tells SVT Sport.
READ MORE: Linn Svahn gets angry at the reporter during the interview with SVT
She thinks the tour has become too monotonous and a bit boring. Most things look the same now year after year. The stages are held in the same places and always end with the same climb. The national team manager Anders Byström says that he heard if the tour could not go north and perhaps end with a climb up the Åreskutan, but received in response that the Tour de Ski should remain a Central European product. Linn Svahn had also wanted to see change.
– Now it’s pretty much the same concept all the time, just that it’s slightly different locations. Before, it was more different: A prologue, three kilometers. A chase start, a fifth, a long race of 30 kilometers. It was a bit more varied before, and I would have liked more of that, she says.
Svahn gets the nod from Northug
Even the former superstar Peter Northug39, thinks the tour has become too boring over the years. He won three times in a row between 2009 and 2011, but now he thinks the competition has become too common and doesn’t stand out anymore.
– As a new concept, the Tour de Ski succeeded at the start, with slightly different types of competitions. There were slightly different stages to what you see in the normal World Cup, but it has disappeared more and more and looks more like a normal World Cup weekend, he says.
READ MORE: Linn Svahn succeeds in historic feat: “Great success”
Instead, this is how he wants the “new Tour de Ski” to be:
– Put in place a few more of these exclusive stages we had before. A prologue, a stop in a city with a city sprint. That you make it more attractive to the audience, and that it is not only in alpine villages where there are hardly any people in the arena.
What do you think of the layout of the Tour de Ski? Do you like it or do you also think a change is needed? Please write a comment! Share and like-mark the article.
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