Planica, Slovenia, March 5, 2023. William Poromaa sprinted to bronze in the 50 km and took the first Swedish men's medal at a World Cup event in six years.
It was a break in the trend that would mark a turning point for a national team that had long lived in the shadow of successful championship skiers like Marcus Hellner and Johan Olsson. Poromaa followed that up with silver in the 50 km at the World Championships in Trondheim last year, and the Swedish men took two more bronzes, continuing the upward trend.
The future looks bright, said men's coach Lars Ljung after the 2025 World Cup.
After five of six Olympic races in Val di Fiemme, the feeling is not as positive.
"It has been a very tough championship. We are not satisfied, of course. We had hoped and expected more," says Ljung.
An exclamation mark
Olympic debutant Truls Gisselman's surprising seventh place in the opening skiathlon is an exclamation mark and by far the best result on the men's side. Otherwise, most things have gone wrong for the Swedish men in Italy, with last place in the 4x10 km relay being the biggest disappointment. The country's biggest individual hopes, such as Edvin Anger and Poromaa, have not made it at all.
Sweden is heading towards a third straight Olympics without a men's medal and national team manager Anders Byström admits that the Swedish team should be more competitive at this point.
Well, I think so. We all think so. Our hopes were much higher, so we really have to look in the mirror at what we can do.
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World Championships 2027 is stressful
At the same time, he says, you have to have some perspective and not draw too many conclusions from what happened during the 2026 Olympics.
"We still have to remember that since the time after Hellner and Olsson we have made strides and won more medals at the championships. More and more of them. And World Cup victories last year for both Edvin and 'Wille', so we must not be completely scared of the dark about this."
Neither he nor Lars Ljung wants to speculate on what went wrong and why. They are saving that for after the Olympics and after the season.
But it is also inevitable that the next major championship will come next year. It is an extra important one: the World Championships on home soil, in Falun.
"It's clear that you get a little stressed when you think like that. But a championship also takes on a life of its own. If you go into it the wrong way, it becomes very dark. And last year we approached the championship much better. So we also have to analyze that, what specific preparations we can do," says Anders Byström.
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Wiktor Nummelin/TT
Facts: Swedish men's cross-country skiing in the Olympics and World Championships
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In the 25 Winter Olympics held since 1924, Sweden's men's national cross-country skiing team has won medals in all but five:
+ 1924 – at best a fifth place for Torkel Persson in 50 km.
+ 1994 – two sixth places as best in the 4x10 km relay and Christer Majbäck in the 50 km.
* 2018 – at best a fourth place in the sprint relay.
* 2022 – fourth places in sprint relay and 4x10 km.
* 2026 – at best (so far) a seventh place for Truls Gisselman in skiathlon.
In the World Championships, the Swedish men have missed out on a medal in only nine out of 42 championships: once they did not participate (1925), seven times the best result has been fourth place and once the best result has been fifth place (1997).
