“Edvin Anger: The Skiing Star Who Finds Solace in Driving Tractors on His Uncle’s Farm”

Far, far, over there on the other side of the field a green tractor turns, lowers the plough, and begins to slowly plow forward again escorted by a flock of seagulls flapping in the sunshine.

A few minutes later, the huge tractor brakes in front of us. A slightly sweaty Edvin Anger jumps down from the driver’s cab with a broad smile.

– Wait, says the 21-year-old.

Hey. How long have you actually been driving around out here?

– I do not really know? What time is it?

Just after 12.

– Okay. I started at seven this morning.

Last season’s breakthrough man in Swedish skiing has certainly mentioned in various interviews that he thinks it’s fun to drive a tractor. But the extent of it all has probably never really come to light.

– I can’t handle a life where it’s just about skiing. If it had all been about just training, I would probably have become quite tired, says Edvin Anger.

So mixing it all up with some tractor driving helps?

– Yes, then everything seems to go faster. You take an early training session in the morning – then you can drive a little tractor. And just think about anything.

– It will be like something else.

It is on his uncle’s farm that the skiing star helps as often as he can. And there is no question that he enjoys that part of farming life.

– That’s how it is. But… I still find it hard to believe that I will become a farmer after my skiing career.

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Edvin Anger continues:

– On the other hand, I will definitely always drive a tractor a few weeks a year – it is in my heart. After all, I was brought up driving a tractor with my grandfather.

You usually call grandpa Lennart your idol, I’ve seen.

– Well, when I was little, it was grandfather I wanted to be with. I was probably there as much as at home. It became a safe point for me.

How old were you the first time you got to ride the tractor?

– Maybe a year?

Oh. Early.

– Yes. Grandfather built a child seat that fit in the tractor. So there I sat, skimming along in the fields. And sleep well, says Edvin Anger and laughs.

It is very clear that things like family, relatives and homeland mean an extremely great deal to him.

One of the reasons for that is also deeply tragic.

– We were very tight even before. But after everything that happened, we became even closer to each other in every way, says Edvin Anger.

* * *

We have moved to the small cottage outside Rensbo where Edvin Anger lives, just a few hundred meters from his childhood home.

There is forest all around, there is the Dalälven below, there is blue sky above. Or if you prefer: A classic Swedish summer idyll.

On the veranda, Edvin Anger sits down with his Norwegian girlfriend Emma Axelsson on the other side of the table.

– It is so nice here. And everyone in Edvin’s family is so kind. I enjoy myself very much here, she says.

And her skiing boyfriend is undeniably in a good place in life too.

The results of last season – the first as a senior – can only be described as sensationally good.

The grown-up sprint specialist made it to the finals in five World Cup events – finishing fourth in three of them. He finished fifth in the overall Sprint Cup. In addition, Anger sprinted home a second place for Sweden in the World Cup relay in Toblach.

Have you had time to enjoy a little now?

– Well, I have to say that I did. Or… at least I’ve tried – because it’s a bit hard to take it all in. There were so many new impressions.

So what do you remember best?

– Actually, it is the journey until the start of the season.

It was a somewhat surprising answer.

– But everything just went faster for me all the time in all the tests. Without becoming more burdened because of it. I saw all the time what steps I took.

Edvin Anger: “Worst I’ve been on”

Edvin Anger leans back in his chair on the veranda before continuing:

– Then we went to camp in Vålådalen with the national team. And then I hung out with Jens (Burman) at the first distance test competition.

What were you thinking then?

– That there was little to go with.

The 21-year-old then talks about various highlights during the season. Like the sprint in Lillehammer. And the races in Toblach and Les Rousses. Not to mention the weekend in Falun when half of Hedemora was there to cheer on the local son.

But you don’t mention the WC?

– No, I don’t do that, says Edvin Anger.

Expectations were otherwise sky high for the young Swede after the successful start to the season. But once in place in Planica, everything suddenly went wrong.

If only:

✓ 29th place in the sprint.

✓ Fifth in the sprint relay.

✓ 50th place in 15 kilometer freestyle.

– Just a week or so before the World Cup, I felt that the form probably couldn’t get any better than this. I felt so damn good. And then you get a little scared, start thinking that “damn, it might start going downhill now”.

Enter continues:

– Then came the sprint. There was a pole break and a crash immediately. And then you suddenly become a little unsure. I think my whole WC could have changed if I got a good result there.

Then he sighs.

– And then we get crap skis in the sprint relay. Has to be the worst I’ve ever been on.

What happened inside you then?

– Where somewhere one begins to think far too much. Put more pressure on yourself. And it was too much.

Before the WC, Edvin Anger was almost a given choice for the last leg of the long relay. But when the team was presented, he wasn’t even among the four selected.

Recovery – with poker

– I felt that I wasn’t quite 100. And then I don’t want to drive. And I told the coaches that already after the sprint relay.

Instead, Edvin Anger chose to break the WC prematurely. He left Planica before the championship was over and spent the last WC weekend at home in Hedemora.

– I went home and hung out with friends. We actually did a Hedemora tour there on Friday!

(For those of you who have never experienced a Hedemor round, it therefore consists of a turn past the taverns Stället, Hotellet and Akropolis.)

– Then on Saturday I just sat at home with my father and his friends and played poker. It was a weekend when I only thought about other things than skiing. And it was damn nice.

What would you say is the biggest lesson from the WC?

– That maybe I should have taken a break before the World Cup, like after Toblach, and just gone home and relaxed instead of trying to climb higher.

– In retrospect, I think it was good for me.

* * *

Maybe it depends on where we are, or maybe it simply just depends on Edvin Anger’s personality.

But at regular intervals during the conversation, a few words will come about his mother, father, little brother, grandfather, grandmother, uncle or some other relative. About whose land is whose. About who built which house.

Edvin Anger also described it himself earlier in this text, how close they all are to each other in his immediate family.

One of the reasons for that is downright heartbreaking.

More precisely, it is about Edvin Anger’s little sister Stina, who was only allowed to live for six months before she died in the aftermath of a congenital disease.

– It was a tough time for the whole family.

He continues:

– There was so much that happened in a short time. Just three or four months before my sister passed away, grandfather died of cancer. And it was early, he was only 55, I think.

Edvin Anger: “I was so small”

Edvin Anger himself was three years old when his little sister fell asleep.

– I was so young, I didn’t really understand what was happening. First grandfather and then my sister.

The 21-year-old continues:

– But I remember a lot. Maybe not so clear memories – but I know it affected me a lot. And I have been told everything back.

For example?

– In retrospect, I have been told that I had a lot of nightmares for a long time afterwards.

Girlfriend Emma Axelsson sits at the table and listens to her boyfriend’s story about the family tragedy. About the fact that during the most difficult period he spent more time with grandma, grandpa and grandma than at home. About how everything that happened left its mark on him.

– It marked me a lot, I was probably very affected by what happened, says Edvin Anger.

His mother Ellinor has in an interview with Södra Dalarnes Tidning talked about how protective Edvin was when his little brother gave birth a few years later: “When Pelle was born, Edvin was five years old and he walked around and carried Pelle so carefully and was so caring”.

Was it so?

– Yes, it probably could have been. It is clear that you were a little extra happy about a new sibling.

Just like his older brother, Pelle Anger has also chosen to invest in cross-country skiing. In the fall, little brother Anger starts the ski school in Östersund.

– And he’s good, says older brother and smiles.

* * *

In the shade of the veranda, the conversation continues. The girlfriend Emma has just realized that there is a canoe in the yard and is eager to go out on the river. For boyfriend Edvin instead, a roller-ski session awaits.

– I’ve had six weeks now when I’ve been off a bit. But now I’m starting again – and it will be hard. You have a bit of a slow start, says the 21-year-old.

You had a bit of a crazy first senior season. Isn’t it easy to aim a little too high for the next one now?

– Yes, I’m a little afraid of that. I have to be prepared that there may be setbacks.

– But at the same time: If I see that I continue to take steps during the pre-season, I know that I will ride better in the World Cup as well.

Next season does not include a championship. The next WC will not be held until 2025 – then in Trondheim, Norway.

Are you already thinking about it?

– Well, I feel more that after this season there will be three chances, three straight championships: WC in Trondheim, Olympics in Italy and then WC in Falun. And thus a lot of opportunities for me.

But considering that you have a Norwegian girlfriend now – isn’t it particularly tempting to succeed already in Trondheim?

Edvin Anger smiles and looks at his girlfriend Emma Axelsson on the other side of the table. And then he says:

– Mmm, it would actually be extra fat.

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The reporter’s panic – when he gets a tractor lesson from Edvin Anger

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