Cross-country: Norwegian columnist blasts Sweden’s handling of Alvar Myhlback as a “complete fiasco”

NRK sports columnist Jan Petter Saltvedt calls Sweden’s handling of teenage sensation Alvar Myhlback a “complete fiasco.”

Myhlback, who shockingly won the Vasaloppet at age 18 last season, has decided not to join the Swedish national team for 2025–26 and will focus instead on the Ski Classics long‑distance circuit with Team Lager 157. While he has not completely ruled out competing at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan‑Cortina, the Games are explicitly not his goal for this season.

Saltvedt rates Myhlback as the biggest current talent in men’s cross‑country skiing and one of the very few capable of challenging Norwegian superstar Johannes Høsflot Klæbo in a 50 km race. He laments that the sport is losing a compelling narrative: a Myhlback‑versus‑Norway showdown that could have defined the Olympic 50 km finish. Instead, he fears Klæbo may arrive at the finish alone.

The Norwegian commentator is baffled by the Swedish federation’s earlier decisions around Myhlback—particularly that he was left out of the Junior World Championships last season after choosing a long‑distance race over qualification. He suggests Sweden’s selection controversies may be worse than Norway’s and warns that cross‑country’s popularity has already declined amid the ongoing absence of Russia, Norwegian dominance on the men’s side, and Swedish dominance on the women’s side. According to Saltvedt, the sport must maximize the storylines it has left.

Sweden’s national team boss Anders Byström said in spring that he supported Myhlback’s decision to pursue long‑distance racing and did not fully close the door to potential Olympic participation.

The article is part of SVT’s build‑up to the 2026 Winter Olympics coverage.