PHOTO: Bildbyrån
Linn Svahn has had an incomparably good ski season this year.
And chasing Stina Nilsson’s record for most World Cup victories.
Now Svahn admits what she really thinks about the biathlete.
Finally have Lynn Svahn returned to the absolute world top again. After two tough years of injuries, surgeries and rehabilitation, she has really had to fight her way back to the joy of cross-country skiing.
Svahn’s success
It really loosened up during the winter’s Tour de Ski when Svahn took his first World Cup victory in over 1,000 days. Since then, the 24-year-old has lined up victories and even passed the legend Charlotte Kalla in the history books.
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Linn has secured a total of 15 World Cup victories during his career and is chasing Stina Nilsson with 23 victories, who is the Swedish cross-country skier on the women’s side who has won the most World Cup races of all time. While Gunde Swan is the one who tops the entire leaderboard with an impressive 30 race wins at the World Cup.
The words about Stina
Svahn has often been compared to Nilsson in particular, and above all when it comes to always going his own way.
– I am very sure of what I have to do to succeed and don’t put my finger on it, even if others around me have a slightly different view and want to go in a different direction. I am very driven by the fact that I have the ball myself and I know what I need to do to become even sharper and even faster, Linn told TT already as a 20-year-old about the comparisons with his skiing colleague.
– I have heard it before and it feels very cool because she is a unique character and skier. Of course she has been inspirational, but the mindset – the traits that are somewhat similar between us – has always been with me. Before I knew who Stina Nilsson was. It will be sad not to be able to match against her in the future. But I’ll keep the flag high anyway.
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But they never got the chance to compete together as Svahn did his very first A-team season in 2020, the same year that Nilsson chose to switch sports to biathlon instead. Stina has since had to struggle for several years with her new sport but continues to be an inspiration for the new sprint specialist.
– I somehow believe that everyone becomes the best by doing what they believe in, and as soon as you don’t do it, I think it’s important to find something new to work towards. It feels like Stina really wants to continue biathlon and that in itself is inspiring. To find something you are prepared to really commit to, says Svahn to SVT but refuses to see himself as a successor to Stina Nilsson.
– I think it’s damn boring to follow in someone else’s footsteps and become the “new”.
What is your honest opinion about Stina Nilsson? Share the article and tell us what you think!
READ MORE: Stina Nilsson doesn’t hold back a bit – when she reveals exactly what she thinks of Petter Northug: “I want him to know that”
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