PHOTO: Bildbyrån
Stina Nilsson is in the midst of a very tough season.
Now Dagens Nyheter’s columnist Johan Esk is voicing his great concern.
“Stina Nilsson’s change has become a boom”, he writes in a critical column.
The Biathlon World Cup is in full swing and there are two skiers who have switched from cross-country skiing to biathlon. It is the star skater and the big home hope Denise Herrmann-Wick and the extremely interesting one Anamarija Lampic.
Stina’s disappointment
But another that belonged to that particular category is Stina Nilsson and she gets to follow the championship at home on the TV sofa. The Swede, who is doing his third season as a biathlete after the shift from cross-country skiing, has now warmed to the clothes of the new sport, but despite that, development has stalled.
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Many had high hopes for Nilsson ahead of this season, but the winter has instead been incredibly tough for the 29-year-old, who has had to struggle a lot. Many have thought about the Swede’s season and now the DN columnist gives in Johan Esk into the debate.
“It has not gone well for Stina Nilsson. After a Bambi-on-ice start, things went better last season and in March came a third place, so far the only podium place in the World Cup. This winter, the arrows and development would continue upwards. Instead, it has gone in the wrong direction. That third place in Kontiolax is starting to look like a shot in the dark,” he writes in a critical column on Dagens Nyheter.
“How long does Stina Nilsson have the motivation? How long does she last if it doesn’t come off?”
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Compare with Klüft
The columnist understands Stina’s switch from cross-country skiing to biathlon to get a new challenge. But he also expresses great concern for the Swedish.
“Stina Nilsson stepped out of the national cross-country team in the right position. Now the competition is fierce in sprints. She entered the national biathlon team at the wrong time. The women’s top has never been so wide,” writes Esk in his explanation.
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He then draws comparisons with Carolina Klüft who left the all-around after great superiority and switched to the long jump and triple jump for a new challenge and it was never a success. He sees the same struggle in a new sport for Stina Nilsson.
“The strangest thing about Stina Nilsson is that she doesn’t go faster. One explanation that is put forward is that she previously mostly competed at short sprint distances. But she was, on the other hand, a relay hero over 5 kilometers at the WC 2019. In biathlon, shooting and skiing often go together and the shaky shooting has slowed down her skiing. At the end of January, she competed in the EC. The championship for those who want to rise and those who are not enough. When she finished fourth in the sprint, she did not have the fastest ride time. One who skied better was the runner-up, Tilda Johansson,” writes Johan Esk in his column about Stina Nilsson.
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