Frida Karlsson has won the ‘Tour de Ski‘ 2023, the prestigious touring event that takes place at the turn of the year and includes six stages, also valid for the World Cup in cross-country skiing. The 23-year-old Swede took the lead at the last event, with the favour of prediction and an advantage of 1’12” over Norway’s Tiril Udnes Weng and 1’27” over Finland’s Kerttu Niskanen. The ascent of Cermis was the only real threat, an effort that Karlsson had never before undergone in her career: the Swede took the climb in the lead and dictated the pace precisely to avoid any surprises, even impressing along a stretch with an average gradient of 26.5%. At one point Karlsson, Frenchwoman Delphine Claudel (later stage winner) and Weng remained in the lead. With 1.2 kilometres to go, Karlsson went into deep crisis: Weng and Niskanen attacked her, trying to make up the minute’s gap in the standings and attempting to overturn the overall ‘Tour de Ski’ ranking in its closing stages. Karlsson went into a blackout in the last 700 metres and arrived exhausted at the finish line, but still managed to win the ‘Tour de Ski’ with a lead of 33″ over Niskanen and 47″ over Weng. Karlsson collapsed to the ground shortly after the finish line and was attended to by the medical staff, struggling to get up and failing to make it to the podium ceremony: a malaise caused by the great effort made on the Cermis and which caused some concern.
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