– That’s Linn Svahn in a nutshell, says Karlsson to news. Sweden’s great distance hope laughs when she hears how Svahn has been doing during the injury layoff, which probably cost her a World Cup medal, the Olympics in Beijing and loads of World Cup races. Karlsson believes the extreme inventions are wise. But first we have to rewind almost two years to understand how the ideas of poleless stunts came about. For Svahn seemed to be the clear favorite for the sprint in the Oberstdorf WC. She not only won four sprint races, but also a couple of joint starts in the preliminaries. On the races, she was irresistible until things went wrong a few weeks before the WC. At home, in Ulricehamn, she fell and injured her shoulder. “The Swedes’ Northug” went to the WC, but as a shadow of itself. She went out in the semi-finals. The shoulder had to be operated on twice before she could restart. Barely managed to do the dishes While Svahn sat at home in Sweden and watched his dreams shatter, Jonna Sundling followed up the WC gold with the Olympic gold in Beijing. She became the new sprint queen. – No one could understand, or no one really knows how bad, or how damaged the shoulder was after I crashed. Double surgery may not be what you want when you are 22 years old and perhaps on your way to being able to fight for an Olympic gold medal. It has been tough to see goals and dreams disappear. Svahn had to start all over again. She could barely use her shoulder. – It was only a start to being able to handle picking out of the dishwasher. Back then, it was quite far from thinking that I would go skiing in the near future. It was a project: “Make Linn great again”. When rehabilitation began, she could not even lift a milk carton. She only did that after a lot of training. – When the others were in the Olympics, I did milk carton training, says Svahn, as she demonstrates how she kept up with herself. PAINFULLY BORING: Linn Svahn still doesn’t like the milk carton exercises. She continues to lift the milk carton up and down at different angles in her shoulder. She dislikes the exercise but continues with it to keep the injury at bay. She has found the joy of training again elsewhere. – I think I’m a little “kick junkie”. You get a kick from winning ski competitions, you get a kick from putting a new “pers” on a maximum test, Svahn explains to news. Extreme training methods When the rivals were chasing medals in the Beijing Olympics, Svahn started the hunt for completely different milestones. Without poles, she skied 100 kilometers and climbed 2,100 metres, equivalent to the height of Kebnekaise, Sweden’s highest mountain. – It takes a few hours, but that’s the way it is, if you decide on something, you do it and after that you’re satisfied with it. And then you can go buy some candy. That’s pretty much how I felt the whole of last spring, says Svahn. Karlsson: – We are equally idiots The Swedes’ sprint hopes estimate that it took around seven hours to cover the ten miles. She regained her energy by throwing in sweets and energy drinks. Frida Karlsson, who has trained a lot with Svahn before this season, thinks she could consider a similar prank. – Yes, we are equally idiots, both of us. – Is it idiotic? – Yes, that’s enough. SMILING: Frida Karlsson laughs at her teammate’s invention. Photo: Anders Skjerdingstad / news Karlsson thinks it’s about breaking boundaries and challenging oneself. – It can take quite a lot for the head to manage something so extreme. PS! Svahn has run three World Cup sprints since she made her comeback in December. She has been number 5, 4 and 5. Together with Maja Dahlqvist, she won the sprint relay in Livigno one month ago.
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Linn Svahn walked 100 kilometers without poles – labeled as “idiotic” by Karlsson – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
