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Of: Anna Rydén, Erik Karlsson, Petra Thorén
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ÖSTERSUND / STOCKHOLM. It was a strong comeback after the coronavirus for Charlotte Kalla.
In today’s mass start, senior Ebba Andersson and Frida Karlsson saw her distancing herself 2 minutes and 15 seconds.
– It’s a long way to Frida and Ebba, that’s just saying, says Charlotte Kalla.
The last time Charlotte Kalla competed was on March 6. A coronavirus diagnosis in early November nullified the entire season plan and formative training.
But today she started again against the entire Swedish female elite in the association’s internal competition in Östersund. Even before the race, a nervous Kalla declared that the feeling in training did not correspond to how it was before the illness and once at the start, Kalla immediately became difficult.
“Very positive trend”
Ebba Andersson accelerated immediately and put Frida Karlsson in the back. Behind that, a second group was formed with sprinters like Maja Dahlqvist, Linn Svahn, Jonna Sundling and Emma Ribom. Charlotte Kalla had to drop those backs quite early in the 10-mile race and she dropped Moa Olsson first as well. She worked to catch up on that back and left too, but then Kalla was alone on the track for the last half as well.
In the end, Kalla was seventh with 2.15.
– The trend in the race is very positive, it has the energy, but it is not surprising that it does not measure up to the skiers who have the absolute maximum world form. I am very satisfied, says Anders Södergren in the Sportbladet broadcast.
Doubting about the Tour
Charlotte Kalla called the shape a six on a ten point scale.
– I tried to get in a good position from the beginning but it got a bit awkward and I didn’t have a good starting position on the first long hill so maybe I was a little too strong to keep up. Too bad there was a gap with the group in front, he says.
She had previously said that she is hungry for the Tour de Ski, but after the comeback she was careful in her predictions about Tourstart or not.
– I don’t think it depends on me if I am selected, but we are going to summarize the impressions of the coaches, then I will convey my sentiment to them and summarize the trend, says Kalla and continues:
– I need to think somehow about what is best in terms of training for the World Cup. It is important to bring today’s race, but also what has been before.
The battle for victory was a tough duel between Ebba and Frida. The former pulled more or less the entire race and also managed to answer by a tenth of a margin in the sprint.
The third was Jonna Sundling, who won the sprint against Maja Dahlqvist and Linn Svahn.
Photo: ERIK MÅRTENSSON / BILDBYRÅN
Photo: ERIK MÅRTENSSON / BILDBYRÅN
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