Last season, Nilsson was second in Lillehammer's sprint at the end of November / December. The day after she was 15th in 10 km. Two weeks later in Davos, Nilsson won the sprint and was only 39 the following day at 10 km. She won two sprints in the Tour de Ski at the turn of the year and was ten and 39th in the distance race before jumping off the tour after four of seven stages.
- This year she has another competition planning because there are so many competitions. It will be twice the weekend in Planica (December 21-22) with probably both sprint and team sprint. Then it is only four, five days until the tour begins. That's why her event planning looks like this, says national team women's coach Magnus Ingesson to SVT Sport.
Isn't that related to her having to pay for the distance race last season the day after four tough sprint races?
- She had no good feeling the day after and that has been valued and a sprint day takes hard, especially at 1500 meters altitude. These races are designed to cope with the tour, which is a big goal for her just like the overall sprint cup.
After the Tour de Ski, will you sell out distance races then too?
- It depends a little on how she lies to the total and how the tour goes. She will be competing in Dresden (sprint weekend January 11-12) but must jump some competition and then maybe some more distance race. It depends on how it develops for her. Nothing is carved in stone. There is a floor plan but then you see how everything flows.
What is the plan for the Tour de Ski?
"The plan is to run the whole," says Ingesson.
This year, distance riders benefit from the Tour de Ski. Six out of seven stages are distance races and only one sprint is entered in the competition which will be decided between December 28 and January 5.