Frida Karlsson has not competed since the Tour de Ski. The foot problems that disrupted the last few seasons meant that the tour did not go as she had hoped. Since then, the ski star has spent time resting the foot, strengthening it and starting training again.
Since last Friday, she has been living at an altitude of 2,000 meters and is training to be in the best shape when the ski competitions in the Olympics are decided in Val di Fiemme, starting on Saturday 7 February.
That valley lies below Lavazè. Up here on the high-altitude plateau, exercisers and elite athletes spin in the same track. Cross-country skiers and biathletes from a number of different countries are here to improve their chances at the Olympics.
Frida Karlsson comes from Sweden. When the sun is still rising over the Dolomites, she will go on a leisurely long pass with the world’s best skiers. Johannes Høsflot Klæbo and his Norwegian national team colleague Emil Iversen.
How does that happen?
– We are good friends so it’s just fun to train together. It’s not like I run all my sessions with them. But it’s fun to ride and talk when we do these quiet sessions, says Frida before Wednesday’s three-hour session.
Both Karlsson and Klæbo ended last year’s WC by winning the five-mile. For Karlsson, it was the second gold after the victory in the relay. For Klæbo, it was the sixth gold out of six possible during the days in Trondheim.
– So it’s completely insane. He has something, says Frida Karlsson about Johannes Høsflot Klæbo.
Emil Iversen had before Tuesday’s pass received the message he had been waiting for a long time. He gets to go to the Olympics.
– He was bubbly all day, says Frida.
And yourself, then? How about the foot?
– Yes, but good actually. It’s starting to settle down.
Every aspiring Olympic athlete who trains here knows about the tragic event, everyone knows what happened here last month.
Norwegian biathlete Sivert Guttorm Bakken was found dead in his hotel room the day before Christmas Eve. The cause of death is not yet known.
– It is clear that you send him a thought from time to time. Especially when you see all the Norwegian biathletes in the men’s national team who are here training. There is a dark history here. You can feel it, says Frida Karlsson.
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