These are exciting days for Frida Karlsson. She got an outstanding start to the season when she won both competitions in the Swedish premiere in Gällivare last weekend.
In Norwegian Beitostølen, 14-time World Cup gold medalist Therese Johaug swept the track with the competitors at the same time.
In the World Cup premiere in Ruka, Finland this weekend, a first message about Frida Karlsson is approaching.
Winter’s first duel between the 22-year-old Swedish star at the beginning of his career and the 33-year-old Norwegian sovereign who has dominated the sport for many years gives an indication of whether the balance of power has changed between them ahead of the Olympic Games in Beijing in February.
– I am very young and expect to develop every season. And I have received answers that I have developed this year as well. I know this because we follow up with maximum tests on tape – standardized tests so that you can not cheat, said Frida Karlsson, even before the competition season started.
I interviewed her at the ski stadium in Gällivare one cold night before the premiere last week. The skiers rotated between us scattered journalists in the finish line. It was heard so clearly that Frida Karlsson already knew that she had taken a new step in development.
– I have gained greater awareness of which muscles I should find to use to go fast. With that, I have been able to work with speed in a different way, she said.
Frida Karlsson described it as her focus on getting a more stable body, strengthening the entire torso, getting strength training and skiing to go hand in hand and learning to activate the right muscle groups.
That sounded good – and the results in the competitions reinforced the impression – even if the message was a bit cryptic and the time was not enough for follow-up questions.
– “I have become more aware of which muscles I should find to use to go fast,” says Frida Karlsson.
Photo: Simon Hastegård / Bildbyrån
What does it mean to find new muscles in a body?
Stefan Thomson, national team coach for the ladies, explains it like this:
– You are looking for an optimal position in technology. Sometimes you can see technical shortcomings, but no matter how much you work and talk about it, you as a skier may not have the conditions for it. Then you try to make it go hand in hand. You go to the gym and work with it in isolation to be able to transfer it on skis then.
In other words, skiers and leaders identify the desired position in the track and then work their way backwards towards the goal.
It’s a lot about getting muscle groups to work together and getting them activated at the right moment, Stefan Thomson explains.
– It is often said that skiing is a full-body sport, the whole chain should work together, from the foot all the way up to the shoulder. And it is the seat and hips that are the engine, he says.
In March 2020, Frida Karlsson received an important message when she picked up and sprinted past Therese Johaug and won the three miles in Holmenkollen. Since then, she knows she can beat the Norwegian in the riot. This year, she has focused part of her training on being able to keep up with Johaug in the races and has therefore trained a lot uphill.
– In the quest to find the keys to approaching the Norwegian ski sovereign Therese Johaug, Frida Karlsson has trained a lot uphill.
Photo: Fredrik Sandberg / TT
But exactly how the world elite trains, the Norwegian and the Swedish, are unclear except for an inner circle.
– The elementary parts are probably quite similar, but we absolutely do not know in detail how Therese Johaug trains. You keep such things to yourself. We do not trumpet everything out either – that’s a bit of the charm, says Stefan Thomson.
What is not secret is that Frida Karlsson had a largely flawless pre-season. She has avoided small ailments that she has had before and gained continuity in her training.
She saw a pattern of recurring injuries and has found that most of it was due to her feet. When she has done exercises for her feet, she has been able to train more this pre-season without getting tired.
Frida Karlsson has previously been forced to take a break from competition after failing health checks. But now, like others in the national team, she uses both medical tests and her own assessment to assess her health status.
– You estimate in some areas how you feel when you wake up every morning. It concerns quality of sleep, if you feel tired, if you have pain and how you feel mentally. Then you get careful supervision, so that you are on the right side of the border in everything you do, says Stefan Thomson, about the daily routine that has developed since the beginning of the training year.
– Women’s national team coach Stefan Thomson in conversation with Moa Lundgren during the Swedish premiere in Gällivare.
Photo: Simon Hastegård / Bildbyrån
Joakim Abrahamsson, former Swedish national team captain, now sports director in Piteå Elite where, among others, Ebba Andersson competes, points out how skiing has changed.
– It goes faster in the tracks, the materials can withstand greater forces and the mass starts have changed the conditions. Both Ebba Andersson and Frida Karlsson stake on parties that ten years ago we did not dream of skiers stake on. It has to do with both training methods and materials.
He points out what is perhaps a ski coach’s most important task:
– This is about individuals who are extremely driven to want to perform and take medals. Sometimes they get lost in that zeal. The concern for leaders is not to push on. However, to support and brake. As a coach, it’s like having an egg under the accelerator. Accelerate gently and brake appropriately, says Joakim Abrahamsson.