February 2021: Linn Svahn has, by a solid season, entered the month of the World Championships in Oberstdorf as the favorite to win gold in the sprint. But a fall in the quarterfinals at the World Cup races in Ulricehamn on February 6 proves fatal.

Just over two weeks later, favorite Svahn was out in the semifinals at the World Championships. She started a few more races during the end of the season, but the problems in her shoulder continued to cause problems, and in September 2021, she had surgery. A few months later, the shoulder was operated once again and it would be clear that she would miss the Winter Olympics.

On December 9, 2022, she made her competitive comeback when she won the sprint in Idre, Sweden. A month later, at the World Cup comeback in Livigno, she finished fifth in the individual sprint, and the next day, she won the sprint relay together with Maja Dahlqvist. At the World Championships in Planica, she finished fourth twice.

In the past winter season, Svahn climbed back towards the top. On December 30, 2023, during the sprint at the Tour de Ski, she stood at the top of an individual World Cup podium again. In total, she took five individual World Cup victories during the season. As a result, she convincingly won the Sprint Cup.

Furthermore, she was the only skier able to challenge Jessie Diggins in the World Cup standings into the final weekend in Falun.

The fight for the overall victory in the World Cup was something that even surprised coach Ola Ravald:

“I thought she would be able to fight for the sprint cup. I know she has a very high level in distance races and has developed her overall capacity, so I thought she could be a top-10 skier more often. But we had not even discussed the overall World Cup. This, of course, given the troubles that she has had. But I remember one week before Christmas when all the problems went away, and everything worked in training. There was a difference from session to session. It was cool to see,” says Ravald to Langd.se.

Is the overall World Cup a goal for next season?

“Linn’s goal is for her to tell, but for the winter, the World Championships in Trondheim is what we plan the training for. Right now, we are primarily working towards sprinting and team sprinting, but of course, we are also looking at the other distances.”

One change for the coming season is that Linn Svahn will run training days with double thresholds during the build-up period.

Read More: World Cup skier tests double threshold days

“We have analyzed the past season. Linn came up to a good level, but there are also some parts that she can continue to develop. In addition to developing the overall skiing capacity, it is, among other things, about starts, finishes, and some technical elements. We have a checkpoint list of things to work on and things we will work on. Then, there is the fact that it cannot be solved with a session here or there. It’s about honing things in and working on the development parts over time,” concludes Ola Ravald.