Halfvarsson advanced from the qualifying round of the classic sprint in 26th place. He then advanced to the quarterfinals after finishing fifth in his heat.
The competition was Halfvarsson's first in several weeks; the 36-year-old missed the Scandinavian Cup in Östersund due to a lingering cold.
“I don’t know anything”
It's been a while since I competed, so it'll be exciting to see how the body responds. You don't know anything now, after all. You just have to go there and hope for the best, Halfvarsson told Falu-Kuriren before his return.
Halfvarsson is outside the national team and is training on his own, focusing on sprinting.
During the Swedish season opener in Gällivare in November, Halfvarsson had weak results and he has not competed in the World Cup this season.
“Must show results”
To have a chance at an Olympic spot, Halfvarsson needs to perform in this weekend's distance race in the Scandinavian Cup to qualify for the World Cup and be able to fight for the final places.
We need people who are up there and competing at the top. I can't say exactly what they're going to do, but they definitely have to show international results to beat out those who are already in and competing in the World Cup, national team manager Anders Byström told TT about Halfvarsson and Jens Burman's World Cup chances before Christmas.
National team riders Marcus Grate and Oskar Svensson did not advance from the sprint prologue. Emil Danielsson, like Halfvarsson, made it to the quarterfinals.
Swede Jesper Persson won the sprint after a showdown with Norwegian Amund August Korsæth.
