The winter that awaits will be a new start for Frida Karlsson. Although she left the World Championship in Trondheim with two World Championship gold medals – the five-mile victory gave her senior career's first individual gold – there is much from last season that she wants to leave behind.
Partly the trial against the 64-year-old man who harassed her. The man was convicted in the district court (both parties have appealed) but Karlsson has obtained a protected identity and moved due to the incident.
I have become more concerned about my integrity than I once was, she said in May.
Back to the game
Partly the road to the World Championship, where injuries stopped her from many World Cup competitions.
I felt "locked in" until the World Championship, with "this is what I have to do, this is what I must not do". And that's what I've come to realize afterwards, that to feel good in life as an elite athlete, I need to have it pretty free, says Frida Karlsson.
A few weeks ago, the 26-year-old tried to put words to it in a long post on Instagram. She described how she got tired of the sport becoming so square, that everything has to be measured and optimized and that "athletes have started to be shaped more like machines than humans".
She is now trying to break out of it with the Olympic Games in February in sight.
I have to feel that it's desire and not a must. For me, it's so clear that when I think it's fun and when it's desirable and a little free and playful, that's when I move forward.
Tough spring
The training plan is therefore much looser. Instead of following the plan slavishly, she takes it day by day, listens to her body and starts from there. Frida Karlsson already feels how her motivation has increased.
One has to weigh in this spark and passion and feeling. And it also becomes more fun. Sports are also entertainment. It becomes more character in an athlete who has "their" thing in some way.
Was the spring exhausting?
I would be lying if I said it wasn't. There was a lot of stress at the same time. So I needed to come home to Sollefteå, land, have time to reflect a bit and take a break from this bubble you live in anyway.
How are you now?
I'm fine, actually. It feels like I've climbed quite a few steps since the spring. Now it feels like I'm in a very positive spiral upwards.
Lasse Mannheimer/TT
Facts: Frida Karlsson
TT
Born: August 10, 1999 (26 years), in Sollefteå.
Club: Sollefteå skidor IF.
Main merits: World Championship gold in 50 km (2025), World Championship gold in relay (2025), World Championship gold in relay (2019), World Championship silver in 10 km (2023), World Championship silver in skiathlon (2023), World Championship silver in 10 km (2021), World Championship silver in skiathlon (2021), World Championship silver in 10 km (2019), World Championship bronze in 10 km (2025), World Championship bronze in skiathlon (2023), World Championship bronze in relay (2023), World Championship bronze in 30 km (2019), World Championship bronze in 30 km (2021), Olympic Games bronze in relay (2022), victory in Tour de Ski (2023), total third in the World Cup (2023–2024).
