The Swedish Ski Association wants to raise the age limit – SOK is lowering it

At the Summer Olympics, child stars in the new Olympic sport of skateboarding attracted a lot of attention.

An 11-year-old took part in Paris 2024, and in recent Games both 12- and 13-year-old skaters have won medals.

At the Winter Olympics the situation is not so extreme. But in the disciplines of snowboarding and freeskiing, a related age debate arose last year.

At the Olympics, World Cup and World Cup To participate you must be 15 years old. But in the European Cup and the JVM the limit is 13 years.

Stefan Karlsson, sports director for both sports at the Swedish Ski Association, believes this is wrong. Sweden is currently pushing for the international ski and snowboard association Fis to raise the age limit for the European Cup and the JVM to 15 years – and has brought Switzerland, Austria, Norway, Germany and Finland on board ahead of a vote in May.

– As an international community we can take responsibility, says Stefan Karlsson.

– This is not just about being physically developed as a driver, but also about being able to travel around the world at 13-14 years old, pressure… there are a lot of things that you may not be ready for.

It’s not 15 years As a snowboarder or freeskier you should do your best, says Karlsson.

– The rules apply to exceptions and shooting stars that sometimes appear. But then we think that this rule becomes the standard and we want to avoid that. We want to slow down the hectic pace.

Already last year he said to DN:

– We risk creating people who will not prosper over time.

All nations However, I have a different opinion. According to Karlsson, the doubters include the USA, China and Japan.

Even at home in Sweden, opinions differ.

Sweden did not have a single snowboarder at the Olympics in Italy and freeskiing looked bad for a while before veterans Henrik Harlaut (later injured) and Jesper Tjäder were able to join debutant Martin Nordqvist at the last moment.

Anders Wiggerud, sports director at the Swedish Olympic Committee (SOC), believes Sweden should focus on younger skaters. And he’s no stranger to seeing skaters in their early teens on the world stage.

– There are sports where it is important to be good at an early age, for example snowboarding and freeskiing. And you see that with 13, 14, 15 year olds. If you’re far ahead there, you’ll be good later, says Wiggerud.

At the same time, the Swedish Ski Association is working on raising the age limits, for example in the JVM?

– I think this is the wrong way, says Wiggerud.

– They talk a lot about pressure and are afraid of it, but it is individual. I understand the problem with limiting yourself to 11 year olds becoming superstars. It’s probably not entirely healthy, but when we talk about 13-, 14-, 15-year-olds, we have people who are more mature in their investing than 25-year-olds.

So how far can you push the age down?

– I think they (the boys) should be given the chance to go. If you’re 13 years old and good enough, you should get the chance. We don’t need to protect these drivers from coming out and competing against others.

In the European Cup and the JVM for example?

– Yes, exactly. And if they’re good enough to go to the World Cup, why not?

He is aware of it Anders Wiggerud says that he and the ski association do not agree.

It’s nothing new for Stefan Karlsson either:

– SOK has this attitude. “I think it’s fortunate that we as a confederacy are in charge,” he says.

According to Wiggerud, you can tell from a 13, 14, 15 year old whether he or she will be good. Is it that simple?

– No, I don’t think so. Sure, there are shooting stars in whom you can recognize talent early on, whatever talent is. But there are so many other aspects that are difficult to understand: the pressure, the motivation over time and the consolidation of basic knowledge.

Read more:

“We risk creating people who are not well”

The missing national team – no Swedish snowboarders at the Olympics