The new Swedish fit for Kristine Stavå’s Skistad – sour words after the fight with Linn Svahn: “She was scared…”

Sweden completely slaughtered all opposition in this weekend’s World Cup sprint.
Now they send a sour pass – to Kristine Stavås Skistad.
– She was probably scared…, says Johanna Hagström.

Kristine Stavå’s Skistad has been one of the few that has been able to threaten the Swedish superstars in sprints in the past year. Last year, the Norwegian finished the season brilliantly, and during this season there have been five podium places – and, to say the least, an attention-grabbing altercation with several Swedish skaters.

Perfect fit

After great drama in one of the sprints in the Tour de Ski, where Emma Ribom fell and Sweden wanted to clean up the Norwegian, Skistad sent a sour pass against Sweden on his Instagram. This caused Linn Svahn to react with anger, as she called Skistad “disrespectful”.

But after the big fight, there haven’t been very many competitions, between the Norwegians and the Swedes. In this weekend’s competitions in Goms, Skistad was at home and trained instead of competing. And in her absence, it was a fiasco for Norway.

No Norwegian skater made it past the quarter-finals, while Sweden was first, second, third, fourth and fifth in the final. And afterwards, Sweden took the opportunity to send a clean boot to Skistad.

– I have no idea why she chose to stand over. If you can participate, I think you should participate, but yes, it is her decision. Maybe she was afraid of the riders who are here, Johanna Hagström told NRK.

“Would have been hard to beat”

Frida Karlsson, who finished fourth in the race, is also at a loss as to why Skistad chose to stand over, and thus also lose important points in the overall standings in the sprint cup.

– But she surely has a plan with it…, says Karlsson, who was also asked if it was a “present” to Linn from Skistad.

– I think Linn would have been very difficult to beat today anyway, she replies.

In Norway, the reactions have been strong around Skistad’s unexpected decision to stand over the competitions this weekend. Torgeir Björn, length expert at NRK, believes that it can have two different outcomes.

– She takes a chance and misses out on precious points. At the same time, she gets good training sessions and can finish the season on top, just like she did last year, he says.