Last year I tried to cross country ski for the first time. It looks so easy on the Nordic Track videos. I had visions of me gliding through the Scandinavian countryside, healthy and invigorated. My experience, however, was like my brain and my legs were on two different frequencies and I made about 20 yards when two attempts at a steep incline of about the size of a step on your front stoop were not only unsuccessful, but the resulting fall led me to hang up my skis and retreat to the coffee shop.
While the American TV sports coverage was all about football, here in Sweden it was skiing, both the downhill and the (dreaded) cross-country events. The cross-country event was the two-year-old Tour de Ski and is modeled on the Tour de France of cycling. Races this year were held in the Czech Republic, Germany and Italy over eight days. The event is a combination of cross country ski races. The overall results are based on the aggregate time for all events, as well as bonus seconds awarded on sprint and mass start stages.
Sweden was cheering for Charlotte Kalla, who was competing in the Tour de Ski for her first time. A feisty 20 year old, Charlotte hails from Östersund, a city of 57,000 residents. Östersund is famous for its cross-country ski trails and Storsjöodjur, the Great Monster of Lake Storsjön. The hometown girl, Kalla, has been competing internationally since 2004. She has been steadily improving her stature and in her ski sponsor’s bio it says she is “stubborn and goal focused.” Her gusty performance this weekend proved those words true and made her an overnight sports hero.
Over the course of her Tour de Ski, she had a pole break in a sprint race, costing her a possible win. In the race on Saturday, while attempting a move to the lead, she clipped her skis with another racer’s skis which caused her to fall and lose time and position. Getting back on her skis, she screamed a word that would have been bleeped on American TV (or maybe not as it was in Swedish) and preceded to literally chase down the leaders. While the experts were expounding on the error of this tactic, Kalla blew by skier after skier until she finished second, only 36 seconds behind the Tour de Ski leader going into Sunday’s grueling final event.
The final stage was held in pursuit style in freestyle technique, with the overall Tour leader starting first and all other competitors starting after according to their time behind in the overall standings. After a short lap of the Val di Fiemme stadium tracks, the course meandered down the valley to the base of the Final Climb. Two and half kilometers and 425 vertical meters up the Alpes Cermis later the first athlete across the finish line would be the winner. With all the energy expelled on her second place finish on Saturday, the pundits did not hold high hopes for Charlotte winning on Sunday.
Charlotte caught Virpi Kuitunen from Finland a third of the way up the Final Climb, and then made a decisive break with one kilometer to go. She accelerated quickly and Kuitunen had nothing to answer with. She crossed the finish line and collapsed, winning by a spectacular 36 seconds ahead of the second place Finn.
Arriving back home in Sweden, the smiling Charlotte was a national hero. Her picture was on the front of every newspaper, and the TV stations were falling all over themselves to get an interview with the ski star from Östersund. The city fathers, in a burst of civic pride gave Charlotte a piece of land in recognition for her heroic effort that put the city on the international map.
By listening to her heart, body and a indomitable will to win and not to what the “experts” said was what made Charlotte Kalla a champion.
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