When Frida Karlsson took home her double Olympic gold in Fiemme Valley, she did so on classic Swedish ski terrain. In the mythical valley of the Dolomites, Torgny Mogren won gold in the five-mile race in 1991. Johan Olsson repeated his performance in 2013 at the same distance and location. The valley is the same.
But when Frida Karlsson now competes in her final start at these Olympic Games over the royal distance of cross-country skiing – five miles – she will do so in a very, very different sport than the one in which the previous male gold medalists competed.
SVT definitely reports “extreme ratings”. 2.3 million Swedes watched the Olympic broadcasts of the women’s cross-country skiing relay, which is undeniably outstanding. When cross-country skiers went to the World Cup in recent seasons, ratings rarely exceeded 500,000. In the years leading up to Swedish women’s successes on the Olympic tracks, skiing lost the previously strong position it gave to Swedish campfire television.
“Ski has gone out of business “There is no time for you, there is nothing for you,” writes the Norwegian cultural journalist Bernhard Ellefsen in the book “Afterski” (JM Stenersens, 2025). When television media really took off in the 1960s, cross-country skiing transformed from an outdoor activity into televised entertainment. The national pride that prevailed in the northern Nordic countries on strengthening and physical work in nature was easily transferred to cheers at home. “It is typically Norwegian to be good,” said Mother Brundtland. Then three out of four Norwegian school children were given two weeks off to watch the “ski boys” win it all in 1994.
“In Norway, the national honor lies more with the skiers,” writes Sverker Sörlin in the book “Kroppens geni” (Weyler, 2010). “The spread in the population is greater,” he claims. But even in our western neighboring country, cross-country skiing as a televised sport is falling out of the collective frame of reference, says Ellefsen. He even argues that it is at the end of his own story. After the Norwegian years of success in the 1990s, the new millennium came with a thaw and doping scandals.
The beautiful television pictures In the age of climate crisis, white landscapes turned into listless competitions in brown forests, where the podiums had to be regularly corrected after the pee tests. At the same time, the wheels of the TV sports rights industry were in full swing. In a new media reality, cross-country skiing had to fight to keep up with the competition.
SVT was able to defend itself against this for a long time. Olof Lundh writes in “Den sista lägerelden” (Albert Bonniers, 2025) about how the investment in Vinterstudion from 2007 was a success with viewers. The start of the magazine program on Saturday and Sunday mornings coincided with Charlotte Kalla’s breakthrough at the newly started Tour de Ski tournament. As she raced up the slalom hill on the final stage (in Val di Fiemme, where else?), Lundh says she helped “establish the Winter Studio quicker than many thought.”
SVT appeared to have cracked the code to get Swedes to continue watching cross-country skiing even as interest in the sport declined in most other countries. But before the 2021 season, they lost the rights to the World Cup. When the Winter Olympics are shown again, it will be the first time since Vancouver 2010.
This is becoming more and more mysterious Of course, the digital means TV viewers expect to follow a cross-country skiing competition is one reason the sport’s appeal has waned. But Bernhard Ellefsen also finds another explanation in a changed cultural climate. With the ever-growing range of sports available, the demands on cross-country skiing to stand out are also increasing. Sell yourself as a product.
This is not only noticeable in the fact that the competitions have changed to become more public, such as with the introduction of the aforementioned Tour de Ski. This is also reflected in the demands placed on drivers to treat themselves generously. Before the Olympics began, SVT’s play feeds were filled with clips and interviews with the biggest profiles. They also showed a reality show, “Without Filter – The Long Distance Team Before the Olympics”. Viewers can follow a press day in the first episode. “In total we end up with over 400 interviews,” says press spokeswoman Astri Lindbäck. “It’s an all-time high, at least as long as I’m around.”
When she arrived in Italy, sprint winner Linn Svahn received almost as many questions from the press about her golden race, because after the finish line it turned out that she and her national team colleague Johan Häggström are a couple. The modern cross-country skier needs to be filmed, photographed and interviewed from every conceivable angle. Their visibility in the media is intended to benefit the sport, which relies on popularity in the television rights market to be worth even more money.
Described in “Afterski”. Ellefsen, how this constant burden is internalized by the stars themselves. “As athletes, we also have a responsibility for sport,” explained Therese Johaug in an interview. “We have a responsibility to publish images.” Not even a skier who was the best in the world today can only concentrate on winning races. They also have, by their own admission, “the responsibility to post images” on their own social media accounts.
Frida Karlsson has over 400,000 followers on Instagram and promotes sportswear, vitamin drinks and vacuum cleaners. Sverker Sörlin’s thesis from “The Genius of the Body” that the archetypal Swedish ski hero is “an admired outsider” is no longer true. Today he is a well-oiled PR machine looking for new ways to strengthen his own brand – for the benefit of the sport.
Ellefsen believes cross-country skiing’s struggle to re-establish itself as a mass phenomenon is destroying the sport. He compares the spectacle unfolding on the screens with the brutal truth confronted by Oscar Wilde’s anti-hero Dorian Gray in his magical portrait. Our own entanglement in the forces of the market economy becomes clear when we look at the advertising-covered streams and bodies of skiers. And we don’t like this truth.
Ellefsen argues instead of having to give up the dream of back then while cross-country skiing. Cultivate your own uniqueness for a smaller but passionate audience. Perhaps the last campfire that Olof Lundh speaks of can grow into several small but livelier campfires. Then in the future it will probably no longer be us average television viewers who used to watch the five-mile races.
Cross-country skiing thus brings about a further change in our collective consciousness. Quite a few of us will miss Frida Karlsson’s last chance for another Olympic gold. But every year tens of thousands of affluent lifestyle optimizers follow in the footsteps of Vasaloppet. Skis go from something we look at to something we do.
Read more about the Olympic Games and cross-country skiing in DN.
