The Swedish ladies took care of all six gold medals at the World Championship in Trondheim last winter. Despite this, coach Andreas Domeij – together with Stefan Thomson, responsible for the ladies – had to leave.
Now that the national team is entering an Olympic Games season – the games will be decided in Italy – it is clear that former national team star Ida Ingemarsdotter and Johan Granath will form a coaching trio for the ladies together with Thomson.
"Spicing up everyday life"
We did an evaluation after the season. There is a wish from the skiers to have even more support at home, says national team manager Anders Byström.
Ingemarsdotter lives in Östersund and Granath in Falun – both cities gather the majority of national team skiers.
Spicing up everyday life will be one of their main tasks, says Stefan Thomson.
Ingemarsdotter was part of the Swedish relay team that took Olympic gold in Sochi 2014 and World Championship gold in Oslo 2011.
Ida has her career quite close. She has taken big steps in recent years, says Byström.
On the ladies' side, the squad is unchanged – the same skiers who drove in the A-national team last year get a spot.
On the men's side, it was already clear that veteran Calle Halfvarsson is making his own effort outside the national team. The 19-year-old talent and Vasalopp winner Alvar Myhlback has declined the junior national team to focus on the long-distance cup.
Except for Halfvarsson, Johan Häggström has to leave the team. Gustaf Berglund is promoted from the development team and Marcus Grate is new to the team compared to last season.
Halved U-team
The number of places in the development team is being drastically reduced – from 15 to 7 skiers.
This has nothing to do with economy, it's purely sporting reasons. They will train with the A-team at all camps and gatherings we have, and we don't want that group to be too big.
Is it because it's an Olympic Games year?
It's often in Olympic Games years that we spice things. It has partly to do with it, but above all, we have felt before this season that we really want to have quality in everything we do, says Anders Byström.
In the U-team, you can find, for example, Truls Gisselman, who took World Championship bronze in the relay last winter, as well as Märta Rosenberg and Anton Grahn, who both took gold at the U23 World Championship.
Ladies' national team: Ebba Andersson, Maja Dahlqvist, Johanna Hagström, Frida Karlsson, Moa Ilar, Emma Ribom, Jonna Sundling, Linn Svahn.
Men's national team: Edvin Anger, Jens Burman, Emil Danielsson, William Poromaa, Oskar Svensson, Marcus Grate, Gustaf Berglund.
Development team, ladies: Evelina Crüsell, Elin Henriksson, Moa Lundgren, Märta Rosenberg.
Men: Truls Gisselman, Anton Grahn, Måns Skoglund.
