This weekend the Swedish ski season kicks off in Gällivare. As the season starts, the discussion about whether Swedish skiers compete too little is once again being raised.
For Norwegian World Cup medalist Harald Östberg Amundsen, the answer is clear.
"I think many Swedes are cowards when it comes to skiing. There are many who stand over a surprisingly large number of races," he has previously told Dagbladet.
When the Swedish national ski team gathers for a pre-season meeting, there are two different schools of thought on how the skiers plan their competition plans.
“Will probably be disappointed”
Edvin Anger, with 31 World Cup competitions last year – the most of any skier – has left his mark:
I train to compete. That's how it is. It's because I love competing, it's so much fun. I don't understand why I should stay up all weekend, I can train even though I'm at the World Cup.
William Poromaa, who recorded 17 World Cup competitions, thinks differently.
"Amundsen will probably be disappointed this year too. I understand that he misses someone out there at the competitions, but you can't be in everything," he says.
Poromaa says it's about how he can optimize his chances of going fast. For him, that might mean not racing the weekends before a major championship.
Everyone has different views on what they value and what they think is important and all that. In my case, it has been that I wanted to be at my best before competitions, so I have opted out of other competitions.
“Courage to dare to prioritize”
On the women's side, only Moa Ilar competed in over 20 World Cup competitions last year.
Yes, we've gotten a lot of flak in the media about it. And I'm a bit torn. Personally, I think it's also incredibly brave to dare to prioritize, says teammate Emma Ribom, who took part in 16 competitions.
She believes that one reason why things have gone so well for the national team is that they are going their own way.
For me, it's still a pretty tough game to play in any way, to dare to put all your eggs in one basket against an Olympics for example, and to stand above the Tour de Ski, for example. So it's pretty cool to dare to go towards such a specific goal, I guess not everyone dares to do it.
The Swedish premiere in Gällivare starts on November 21st with sprints.
Number of World Cup competitions last year:
Edvin Says: 31
Moa Ilar: 24
Ebba Andersson: 18
Maja Dahlqvist: 17
Jens Burman: 17
William Poromaa: 17
Emma Ribom: 16
Oscar Svensson: 15
Gustaf Berglund: 15
Emil Danielsson: 13
Johanna Hagstrom: 12
Linn Svahn: 12
Marcus Grate: 12
Calle Halfvarsson (outside the national team this year): 11
Jonna Sundling 11
Frida Karlsson: 5
Other top skiers in the World Cup:
Federico Pellegrino: 28
Kerttu Niskanen: 28
Jessie Diggins: 28
Victoria Carl: 28
Johannes Høsflot Klæbo: 24
Erik Valnes: 22
Astrid Øyre Slind: 20
Harald Østberg Amundsen: 19
Therese Johaug: 15
