Frida Karlsson won the chase start in superior style.
Then the Norwegian experts could hardly believe their eyes.
Afterwards, the Swede countered with a cheeky answer.
Hopes have been high for our Swedish stars ahead of the ski season that has just started. Therese Johaug has been the great dominant in recent years, but has now ended her career – and many have guessed that it will be Frida Karlsson who will take over the throne as the world’s skiing queen.
The experts’ shock
In Saturday’s 10 kilometer race – the first distance race of the year – Karlsson had to settle for second place, however. Instead, it was Ebba Andersson who won. At the start of Sunday’s hunt, the roles were reversed. But Frida Karlsson didn’t just win the competition. She did it in an absolutely incomparable way.
Frida Karlsson had quickly opened up the distance to Ebba Andersson, and once she made her move, Andersson couldn’t bear to answer. Frida Karlsson raced away, and when she crossed the finish line, 30 seconds separated the two. The distance down to the third, Heidi Weng, was gigantic. And in Norway, people almost just sat and gaped at Karlsson’s performance.
– Frida Karlsson is Therese Johaug level, says NRK’s expert Torgeir Björn, according to VG.
READ MORE: Here are the Swedish ski couples – the national team skiers who found love in the tracks: “It’s no secret, is it?”
Northug’s Monster Tribute
Frida Karlsson was happy after the win, said that she was in absolutely brilliant shape for the day, but downplayed the talk that she was on the same level as Johaug.
– It is fun. Maybe it is so. But she is not here and we have not faced each other, says Karlsson.
Petter Northug, skiing icon and now an expert on TV2, believes that it was actually something that Johaug would never have been able to do.
– We know that Therese in her best days has the capacity to walk as fast as Frida today, but she never had the jerk that Frida did, he says.
READ MORE: WC hero Johan Olsson reveals his most powerful moment in his career: “I will never experience that again”