Julin is quick to settle a reservation for Saturday's classic terrain race. He does not know what form Frida Karlsson is in, or how she handles the distance - and she is, after all, longer skiers in the first place.
But just that she chooses to stand is a sign that the training has worked well during the summer, he says. The starting field also does not offer the most murderous competition, according to Julin. There is Kenyan Sylvia Medugu who won at 1.53.00 last year, where there is Ethiopian Yesimebet Tadesse, Finnish veteran Annemari Kiekara (formerly Sandell) and capable Swedish runners such as Hanna Lidholm, Johanna Eriksson, Malin Starfelt and Carolina Wikström.
Participates in the Youth Championship
- It feels like the starting field is at a level that will allow her to keep up there. Somewhere around the top six should perhaps go ... but it's also just a speculation from a distance, says A Lennart Julin.
Between his thumb and forefinger, Julin says that a time around 1.55 should be reasonable for Frida Karlsson. The fact that he believes so much in the 20-year-old shooting star is because he knows what he is talking about. Karlsson does prioritize cross-country skiing - the medal success in this spring's World Cup debut is already classic - but she also has a background as a successful runner at youth level. She has won the small Lidingö race several times and has also been with the national team in both the youth championship and Finnkampen's youth national championship.
- You saw that she had the conditions for running. If you have seen her run you can see that there is more than just heart and lung capacity, and damn embrace. She is also good at running technically, although I haven't seen her as a runner in a couple of years.
Johaug and Majbäck
The fact that there are cross country skiers with running strength has been shown many times throughout history. In the early 1990s, Christer Majbäck was a recognized talented runner alongside cross country skiing, former national team rider Johan Olsson was 15th in the Lidingö race last year and this summer, Norwegian world star Therese Johaug attracted a lot of attention when she took gold at 10,000 meters in Norwegian Championships.
But there are challenges for those who usually focus on cross-country training. In the past, when there was only classic style in skiing, it was more natural to switch between snowy trails and running tracks or off-road tracks. With cross-country freestyle, training is not necessarily as well-matched.
"Something entirely different"
- In the race there is a factor that is not found in skiing: the mechanical load. When you ski, you essentially slide forward, while in running you throw yourself up in the air at every step and then catch yourself. It will be a muscular load that is of a completely different nature, says A Lennart Julin.
It is just that, as above, to run such a long distance, that can trap Karlsson.
- What she has run before has been a short long distance, up to a mile. Now she gives up on the three-mile and it becomes something completely different. But obviously the training must have gone well since she signed up.