Aiming for her fourth Olympics, Charlotte Kalla is forced to change her original race schedule for the season. Kalla now confirms that she will race the Tour de Ski.

“She didn’t really want to race Tour de Ski, but she doesn’t have a choice anymore,” says Kalla’s coach Magnus Ingesson to SVT.  

Other than the national season opener in Gällivare in November, Kalla’s race results have been far from impressive so far this season. Accordingly, the 34-year-old is running out of opportunities to qualify for a spot on the Swedish team to the Olympics in February. 

Yesterday, Norway’s Emil Iversen announced a similar plan in order to snag one of Norway’s eight spots to the Beijing Winter Games. 

Lillehammer was the turning point

At the World Cup in Lillehammer, Kalla finished 39th in the 10-kilometer skate race – her signature event. After that race, Kalla decided to race Tour de Ski. That decision is part of the reason why Kalla didn’t race the World Cup in Davos last weekend. 

“Charlotte Kalla will race Tour de Ski to get back into race shape and make sure her body responds in a satisfying way. There are very few other events available, so Tour de Ski is her only option at this point,” Ingesson says. 

The Tour de Ski stage race starts with a skate sprint in Lenzerheide on December 28 and concludes with the brutal hill climb in Val di Fiemme, Italy, on January 4, 2022. The absolutely last chance to qualify for the Olympics is at the World Cup in Les Rousses in France on January 14 to 16, 2002.