Swedish men’s Cross-Country sprint results have improved a great deal the last few years. Last season they won a number of the World Cup sprint events in addition to the Sprint Gold at the World Championships in Italy. Norwegian sprinters, such as 2002 Olympic Champion Hetland, that normally uses his tactical finesse to capture the victory in the finals, are now struggling to even make it passed the qualification round. Last weekends’ sprint World Cup opener had three Swedes in the A-final (1st, 3rd and 4th place) and five in the top seven – a pretty good start of the new season!
At this point both their designated sprinters and “all-arounders” are doing well in the sprint event. Jorgen Brink, one of their all-around skiers, teamed up with World Champion Tobias Fredriksson to win last weekend’s Team Sprint competition.