The fall during the World Cup competition in Ulricehamn in February took worse than both Linn Svahn and the medical team first thought. An operation on the shoulder was only performed two months ago.
When she woke up after the operation, she was told that the Olympics were not relevant. But she has been waiting to tell.
– It is tough and heavy to see goals and dreams disappear, and not be able to do what you want most of all, says Linn Svahn in a press release from the Swedish Ski Association.
Linn Svahn had a brilliant season until the fall. Among other things, she won the sprint in the world cup premiere in Ruka, several stages during the Tour de Ski – one of which was a distance race – and beat Therese Johaug herself when she won a distance race in Falun.
But at the World Cup in Oberstdorf, after the fall, the star was not recognizable. She was eliminated already in the semifinals of the individual sprint competition and was then not selected to run the team sprint. In SVT’s documentary series “Best when it comes to” Svahn says that during the World Cup she did rehab for the shoulder.
Now in retrospect, she realizes that it was stupid to go to the World Cup.
– I think that many elite athletes are found like me: If you have a goal that you have fought against for a long time, you become quite … manic. I bit together a lot, which is both a bit cool and foolhardy, she says to Expressen.
When it was ready in early September that an operation on the shoulder was necessary, the national team doctor Per “Pliggen” Andersson was self-critical.
– It is obvious that I have a responsibility in this. Now that we have decided, it is clear that this would have been discovered much earlier, he said then.
Svahn herself also tells Expressen that she should have realized that something was not one hundred percent, that she should have interpreted the signals she received from her body and not just bitten together.
She tells a little more in detail about her injury:
– Some things went off in there in connection with the case in Ulricehamn. After that, I have tried to compensate for that loss – and then there have been abrasions in the shoulder.
– It was like double things. Both from the crash and how I then tried to handle it afterwards.
Linn Svahn tells Expressen that before the operation she was still hopeful. The doctor had explained to her that there was a risk that they would need to fix a lot in the shoulder, that the competition season could be over even before it started.
– But … I was probably not really aware that the message would be so obvious. That there will definitely be no Olympics.
In the press release from the Swedish Ski Association, she now says:
– Right now I am in the deepest valley in my career so far. This year it’s about healing and taking small steps forward to become whole again. But I am driven by challenges and somehow I still find this process inspiring, says Linn Svahn.
She still hopes to be able to compete sometime this winter, maybe at the Swedish Championships in April.
– I can not describe in words how much I look forward to being able to compete again, but most of all to being whole.
She has already started to look towards the WC 2023, where she wants to win everything.
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