Before the 2023-24 season, the national cross-country team made a fresh start after three of Sweden's biggest stars chose to break away and focus on their own training program.
They gave the skiers greater opportunity to decide for themselves how the training would be structured, and it had an effect; the trio Frida Karlsson, Linn Svahn, and Maja Dahlqvist returned, and now the change is being pointed out as one of the reasons for the blue-yellow success in Trondheim.
The Safe Haven of Home
It has been a key factor before this championship. I am one who has really advocated for this, that it is an individual sport and that we are all here to perform at our best, says Ebba Andersson.
Sweden has so far taken all five gold medals on the women's side, something that has never happened before. Andersson has been involved in three of them – skiathlon, 10 kilometers, and relay – after loading up at her parents' home in Sollefteå while the rest of the national team went either to Bruksvallarna or to high-altitude training.
It has been a lot about being able to be at home in an environment where I thrive and feel very safe. Where I can just focus on what I'm going to do without any distractions, says Andersson.
"Individual Touch"
Swedish women's coach Stefan Thomson can only agree that the greater flexibility has fallen extremely well.
It is something we have worked on in recent years. We have greater individual freedom of choice regarding certain things now. Not everyone fits best at high altitude, some want to be at low altitude and vice versa. And there we have opened up a bit more, says Thomson.
Is it a key to success?
Yes, I believe in those parts. We are still working with an individual sport, so within certain frameworks, there must be this individual touch.
