It was a trick that skiing fans around the world will remember.
Iltapäivälehti Expresse was invited by a power skier Johan Olsson45, as one of the all-time greats in Sweden’s illustrious sporting history, but he is remembered for just one race.
– That view is true, Olsson laughs in the restaurant of the Italian hotel.
Just under thirteen years ago, the World Cup competitions were organized in Val di Fiemme, the country of boots. In the fifty-kilometer traditional style, Olsson ran away to the world championship in a memorable way.
– I had planned for years to run away together. I wanted to be aggressive and bold to make moves.
In the 15+15 kilometer combined race at the Vancouver Olympics in 2010, Olsson was off the hook, but the main crowd caught him.
– I was very disappointed in Vancouver, even though I got bronze. In hindsight, I realized that I let the main crowd catch me. After that race, I decided that the next time I won’t give up, I’ll finish in 25th place.
Dismissal
Johan Olsson broke away from the others at 12 km in the 50 km traditional style race of the World Championships in Val di Fiemme in 2013. Kari Kuukka
During Olsson’s skiing career, born in March 1980, the sport was dominated by Norway Petter Northug and Switzerland Dario Cologna.
– In my opinion, they are the best skiers of all time. Cologna was even better than Petter on normal trips, but the Norwegian’s kiri abilities were enormous – in the same category as Johannes Klæbo nowadays, Olsson comments.
– I knew that I wouldn’t beat Petter in the final, even if I trained for three years. But if I train to tolerate a really high speed during the race, I can manage to defeat him in the joint start race, the Swede adds.
In Val di Fiemme 2013, he made his game move at 12 kilometers. Cologna followed the Swede.
– We hadn’t agreed anything with Dario in advance. Dario only spoke evasive English and I spoke evasive German.
Cologna was coached by a Norwegian at the time Tor Arne Hetland.
– Hetland asked me during the race if I would like to try to break away from Dario. I answered in the affirmative.
The two broke away until around 20 kilometers, the Swiss crashed.
– Dario was a good five seconds behind me, so I didn’t know that he crashed. When I heard about it from the Swedish coaches, I cursed: I’m alone and this can’t work in such slow weather. There is a big crowd coming and the difference is only 30 seconds.
Then Olsson did what he did with his high-speed training runs: he approached the upcoming events one hill at a time.
The pits
Johan Olsson (left) and Dario Cologna took the two brightest medals at the fiftieth of the 2013 World Championships in a temperature of over 10 degrees. EPA / AOP
The tightest place came halfway through, when the field announcer Kjell-Erik Kristiansen spoke Swedish into his microphone.
– He announced that Johan, now you only have half of the journey left, Olsson recalls.
– It was like a hammer blow to the head. I realized, damn, I really have half the journey left. I had to rebuild my mental strategy, the man adds.
The competition was skied on an 8.3 kilometer track. Olsson says the culminating point happened at the beginning of the last lap.
– On the first uphill, the disappointment of Vancouver came to mind. I decided that this time I will not give up, I will win the gold. I press the bottom of the gas.
In Finland we call it guts…
– I really felt the guts. Usually after 42 kilometers the body says that pressing the gas to the bottom is the wrong solution, but that time the body held on and I felt that I had more to give than ever.
Cologna came second and later Kazakhstan, which was banned for doping Aleksei Poltoran poked bronze.
– Of course I’m happy about the world championship, but I’m more proud of the process than the end result.
A tip for Niskanen
Johan Olsson currently works as a skiing expert for Sweden’s Viaplay. Jussi Saarinen
Val di Fiemme will compete for Olympic medals in February. The royal journey is skied on traditional.
– Me and later the winner of the 50 km World Championship gold with a similar release Hans Christer Holund we have spoiled a little Iivo Niskanen Olympic gold chances, Olsson announces.
What do you mean?
– Now everyone knows that you can’t give a skier like Iivo a break. He must be caught, Olsson replies.
– But if anyone can pull it off, it’s Iivo. I think he is the best traditional skier of all time. I haven’t seen anyone ski traditional with as much intensity as Iivo Lahti at the World Championships 2017.
Isolation
Olsson achieved a total of 14 prestigious medals in his career. Half of them are personal. Picture from the 2013 World Championships, when he took 50km gold, 15km silver and relay silver. AOP
Olsson got sick a lot during his own career.
– It connects me and Iivo, the Swede smiles.
Legenda’s now 14- and 11-year-old daughters were sick a lot when they were babies and toddlers.
– All parents of small children know that toddlers often get sick and diseases often infect adults. Of course I don’t blame my kids for that – that’s life.
Before the 2015 World Championships in Falun, Olsson isolated himself from his family for eight weeks. At the Taalainmaa trials, a 15-kilometer free gold medal, a relay silver and a 50-kilometer traditional style bronze were strung around the skier’s neck.
– I warmly recommend Iivo to isolate himself from his family for a long time before the Olympics in February. With all due respect to Iivo, he doesn’t have many years left at the top. He still has 1-2 big chances in the value races.
Niskasen, who turns 34 in January, has a son born in December 2022 and a daughter born in September 2024 with his spouse.
– Eight weeks of isolation was not worth it at the time, but I recovered from it and was able to build my relationship with my children in a normal way. Even if I hadn’t won the gold in Falun, I could later leave the sport with the thought that I gave 100 percent my all.
Fitness spike
Anna and Johan Olsson represented Sweden at the sports gala in 2024. AOP
Olsson was a master of proper timing. He achieved a total of seven individual medals in the Olympic and World Championships. The same number of podium places came during the entire World Cup career.
The Swede says that he realized at an early stage that he would not be able to be in good shape for the entire competition season.
– Some skiers have it in their DNA that they are close to their peak condition throughout the winter. Cologna was always hard from November to March.
Olsson built a tactic of one fitness spike every year.
– When I reduced my training in the middle of the competition season and stayed healthy, I got supercompensation. As a result, I was in damn good shape for 2-4 weeks every year.
In real jobs
Tour de Skille 2025–26 Olsson was brought by the work of Sweden’s Viaplay ski expert. Sweden’s Viaplay gave up its Stockholm studio two years ago, so the company produces every mc weekend on location. Olsson goes around the race venues for the entire tour.
His daughters and spouse (ex-skier, 2006 Olympic double relay winner Anna Dahlberg) and Olsson, who lives in Sundsvall on the edge of the Gulf of Bothnia, also does “real work”.
He is a project manager at Swedish Quality Index Ltd (Svenskt Kvalitetsindex AB). The company measures how companies and organizations are able to meet customer expectations and needs, i.e. customer satisfaction.
– I share with companies my tips on the culture of working and winning. I based my elite sports career on numbers and various measurements, and I continue the same operating model in my current job.