The bright lights and media attention will be on Helena Jonsson, Carl Johan Bergman, Anna Carin Olofsson-Zidek, and company, but they are ready for it. Team Leader Staffan Eklund feels good about the past seven months of training. “This year, our training, especially for the women’s team, was really good. For the men, we had some problems with injuries, but overall, it was one of the best years we have ever had.”

Injury to Bjorn Ferry

The injuries affected the team’s two top men, Bergman and Bjorn Ferry. Eklund described the problem, “Bjorn crashed while rollerskiing in Ruhpolding and broke his collarbone. We immediately sent him back to Stockholm for an evaluation by experts. They had him wait for a few days after the initial exam, but then decided to do surgery immediately. It went very well and allowed him to start training much earlier than we expected. Bjorn now has to be patient in the early part of the season, as he missed some training. The important thing for him is that he can prepare properly for the Olympics; that will be no problem. We are not expecting so much from him early in the season, because of what happened. Bjorn has to think that the main goal is the Olympics and what happens now is not so important.” Bergman also took a tumble in Ruhpolding soon after that as well, but continued to train despite some lingering discomfort and recently looked strong and sharp in recent training sessions.

Crystal Globes and Medals

Despite these setbacks, the Sweden Team seems prepared for another outstanding season. Of course matching or improving on a great year is always a challenge. When the dust settled last March in Khanty Mansiysk, Helena Jonsson was the Overall World Cup winner and took home two smaller crystal globe trophies for the Sprint and Mass Start titles. These were in addition to her three medals in Pyeongchang; Pursuit Gold, Mixed Relay Silver and Mass Start Bronze. She led the women to a second place finish in the Nations Cup, while the men finished fourth in that competition. While Jonsson was grabbing headlines, Carl Johan Bergman had the best year of his career, finishing eighth in the Overall World Cup, with Ferry on his heels in ninth. The men capped their season with a World Cup Relay victory on the Olympic venue at Whistler Olympic Park.

Exciting Moment in Swedish Sports

Eklund feels good about Jonsson’s chances this year, but was surprised by her big win last season. “Before the World Cup season started last year, we knew Helena was good, but not that good. After the first three World Cups, I was not so surprised. During the last competitions, we never expected her to win. It was a real roller coaster right up to the finish. In Sweden, I think it (Helena winning) was one of the most exciting moments in sports of all time.”

Regarding this season, he said, “The main thing is to do it again. That is very hard. I hope she can do it again, if not win the World Cup, at least be in the top five.”

Olofsson in Good Form

Eklund feels that Jonsson has a much improved “supporting cast” of women this year. “The whole women’s team surprised me a bit in training this year. (In addition to Helena), Anna Carin is back now, maybe not the same as in Torino, but she is coming close. The less experienced women have made great progress also. Still, it is always hard to say where you are. We need the first three or four competitions to find out exactly where they are.”

Lindstrom Steps Up

The men, like the women, have two top ten performers in Bergman and Ferry, but an even deeper team that includes David Ekholm, Mattias Nilsson, and the 20-year old Fredrik Lindstrom. Eklund added, “That young guy, Fredrik surprised me in training this year. He is almost at the level of the others now.” His addition to the group gives Sweden a men’s team that is similar to Austria, with several interchangeable athletes of similar ability. Ekholm commented on this in an earlier interview, “It is the advantage of a strong team. When we won the Relay in Vancouver (World Cup), everyone said, ‘the Swedes are going with a reserve team.’ We won with Frederik who was a junior and we showed that it does not matter; we can go with anyone on our team and win.”

For Eklund, having such strong men’s and women’s teams, eight years after Magdalena Forsberg retired is a surprise. “I never thought in some ways that after Salt Lake (2002 Olympic Winter Games), we would have such a strong team now. Many people said that once Magdalena was gone, it was over for biathlon in Sweden. It was a challenge (for Coach Wolfgang Pichler and me), but we knew we had a good base of athletes. The main thing was to educate them and give them the background and training to be successful. But I never expected to be as good as we are today. For example. I knew when Helena was 16; she was good and I picked her up for the team. I could have never expected her to be as good as she is today.”

Even with a mature team of proven performers, Eklund is cautious about the upcoming Olympic Winter Games. He explained, “The Olympics are special. . . The Olympics are not like a World Cup, you must be prepared for just those 2 weeks; there is nothing else (or another competition the next week). If you are unlucky with illness or injuries, then you do not do as well as you hoped to do.”

Medal Predictions Tricky

Continuing, he added, “I actually think there are only six nations who have really good chances (to win medals) in the Olympics. We are one of them. I would be satisfied if we leave Vancouver with one medal; of course there could be none or three or five medals. Regardless, we have to be satisfied. That is the thing that makes this sport so interesting. It is much easier to predict the next three days in the stock market, than to say we are going to win medals in the Olympics.”

Later this week, here in Östersund, everyone will get an early indication of which direction the Swedish Biathlon Team is headed, but do not be surprised if it follows the general trend of the stock market recently…upward.