Frida Karlsson on her crisis: “I just want to leave this place”

Frida Karlsson on her crisis: “I just want to leave this place”

Frida Karlsson has suffered repeated lactic acid collapses in race after race and expressed frustration after another weak performance in Toblach during the Tour de Ski. The 26-year-old is experiencing the worst slump of her career and hoped the 20-kilometre classical pursuit could turn things around — but it did not.

Karlsson made an optimistic start and gained a few seconds on leader Jessie Diggins but then fell back. She moved up from 16th to 10th on the stage, but finished 53 seconds behind Heidi Weng (who was two seconds ahead of Diggins), and remains well off the lead.

“I feel like I don’t really trust the skis, I’m quite tense and can’t find any good rhythm. When you’ve been poor before it’s hard for confidence and I don’t feel safe in my skiing,” Karlsson told SVT Sport, saying her body is not responding as usual.

Her Tour de Ski result line in Toblach reads: 48 – 5 – 52 – 10. She says she doesn’t want to stay another second in Toblach.

Asked whether she might stop racing to focus on training with the Olympics just over a month away, Karlsson replied that she will continue to compete. She cited her 2022/23 Tour de Ski victory — despite collapsing on the final climb at Alpe Cermis — as evidence that slumps can be overcome.

“Sometimes you have to accept that it doesn’t go straight up, you have to trust the plan and sit calm in the boat,” she said.

Tour de Ski standings after stage 4: 1) Jessie Diggins, USA, 52:14.8 2) Moa Ilar, SWE, +1:35.2 3) Teresa Stadlober, AUT, +1:35.5

Other Swedish placements included Ebba Andersson 8th, Frida Karlsson 10th, Maja Dahlqvist 11th and William Poromaa (mentioned elsewhere) among others. The article includes interviews and reaction clips from several Tour de Ski athletes.