PHOTO: Bildbyrån
What a wonderful skiing weekend for our Swedish skiers!
But there was still something missing in the World Cup premiere.
And I never thought I would say this about Kristine Stavå’s Skistad.
This is a comment. The opinions are the writer’s own.
Talk about the perfect dream start to the ski season for the Swedish part. Frida Karlsson completely crushed Therese Johaug in her 10km comeback, Johanna Hagström saved the first World Cup victory of his career in the sprint and also Jonna Sundling defeated Johaug in the two-mile.
Johaug’s comeback
So incredibly gratifying to see all the fantastic blue and yellow efforts during the opening weekend of the World Cup in Ruka, Finland. In advance, everything was about the great Johaug’s long-awaited comeback and certainly the 36-year-old showed the whole skiing world that there is still a lot of power left in her.
But I still expected more from Johaug. Especially since I thought she would be even better on the ski tracks, she’s still making a comeback to win and not just participate, right?
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I am also disappointed with her actions on the sidelines of the competitions. With Johaug’s comeback, I had been looking forward to a reborn rivalry between Sweden and Norway again, where she tussles with the “young roosters” Frida Karlsson and Ebba Andersson.
I miss Skistad
Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see that at all, but Therese was just happy to be back and paid tribute to the Swedes in the most humble way. Despite the Swedish success, I miss one big thing from the weekend in Ruka and this I never thought I would say.
But I miss Kristine Stavå’s Ski City. I miss her mocking victory gestures, I miss her hush-hush, her Norwegian patriotism and everything that makes you so hugely irritated.
READ MORE: Petter Northug wants to leave Norway and change countries: “I’m desperate”
Because she is the only one in the skiing world right now who is fighting to maintain a strong rivalry between Sweden and Norway. At a time when cross-country skiing is losing viewers, money and commitment every winter, the electricity between the two biggest skiing nations is as important as anything.
A dark future
The century-old rivalry must not die out, then skiing faces a dark future. That’s why the Norwegian sprint star is so incredibly valuable and she has to quickly get back to the ski slopes again after her mysterious stomach surgery.
It hurts to say this as a Swede, but now we hope that the reports are correct and we will see Kristine Stavå’s Skistad on the starting line this weekend in Lillehammer. Because she is really needed!
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