Halfvarsson has reloaded after the blow in Oberstdorf

Before the races in Oberstdorf, Halfvarsson had been bedridden with stomach problems, gave up 30 km but started in the sprint where he was powerless in the quarterfinals.

- It felt worse than in the prologue. This is the last time I expose myself to this, I will not run any more competitions when I am in such bad shape, he told SVT Sport.

But there was no stopping. Last weekend the World Cup took a break and now Halfvarsson is back when Falun hosts. He lives in nearby Sawmyra, which is his club affiliation.

- It worked well with Calle who had some stomach problems most recently in Obertstdorf, then he had not really got back into shape after a few days of training. Now he has been to Bruksvallarna and had a few nice days. We hope that there will be good energy levels again, says national team coach Mattias Nilsson to SVT Sport.

Halfvarsson will start both in the sprint and the distance, which is a 15 km mass start due to the lack of snow. Jens Burman refrains from competing and has the blessing of the national team.

- It's not that strange really, he has a training period for the "Ski Tour 2020" tour which is a big goal (the World Cup with a tour in Sweden and Norway February 15-23) and felt that he needed to prepare for it in the best way , says Mattias Nilsson.

It's no wonder considering there is a big competition in Falun at home for Swedish audiences?

- It is clear that you always want all our best riders to participate in all our competitions at home. At the same time, we know that it is a very intense competition program and somewhere we need to prioritize for the riders to get the best out of it, which felt natural to Jens in this case.

The reason was that 30 km was shortened to 15. What do you say about it?

- Each rider makes an assessment based on which competitions are best suited. For Jens, a three-mile with an individual start would fit very well, there are not so many such races in a season, and had it been an original schedule, it is very possible that he prioritized differently.