Ebba Andersson gets ready for the start…
Photo: Viaplay
…and spitting.
Photo: Viaplay
Obsessions and rituals are a common feature in the sports world. Tennis star Serena Williams never changed socks during a tournament, tennis icon Rafael Nadal always wants to enter the court last, soccer hero Cristiano Ronaldo always enters the court right foot first…
The list goes on.
And now we can add another point from the skiing world.
It takes a keen eye to spot it. But if you look really closely at Ebba Andersson before every start, you see that the 26-year-old skiing star always spits next to her.
The world champion herself has no idea where the behavior comes from.
– No not at all. It’s maybe like Frida Karlsson skating with her tongue out or what Stefan Holm was doing before he hit the high jump bar. It is habitual behavior. Moa Lundgren always yawns before the start, for example. We all have our stuff, says Ebba Andersson.
She shrugs her shoulders slightly.
– It’s some form of tics that happens completely unconsciously.
Was brought up by his own father
The Swedish skiing star is not sure when she herself realized that she was spreading saliva around her at the starting line, but that it was probably her father Per-Ola who first noticed it.
– When I then thought about it, I realized myself: “But God, I’m really standing here spitting. Why do I do that?”. Nowadays I just have to do it. It has gone from a subconscious thing to a must.
And sure enough, it looked the same when Holmenkollen’s five-mile race started on Saturday. At the starting line, the television viewers could see Ebba Andersson spitting around her on the starting line.
In the end, she drove in as second behind a superior Frida Karlsson – her first podium since December
– It was long-awaited! I probably don’t need to say more than that, says Andersson.
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