cross-country skiing | “Embarrassing and stupid!”: Huge trouble about joke prize money

Sweden’s cross-country star Maja Dahlqvist has once again had an extremely successful World Cup season. Shortly before her summer break, the 28-year-old vented her anger again. The reason is what they see as the ridiculously low prize money that was paid out at the Swedish championships last weekend.

Sweden’s cross-country skiing stars ended their 2022/23 season last weekend with the Swedish championships in the province of Kalix. Numerous well-known athletes were at the start again. Sprint queen Maja Dahlqvist also traveled extra.

In the team sprint, the 28-year-old won the bronze medal together with Louise Lindström – actually a great success. But the joy was dampened when Dahlqvist saw the prize money the Swedish federation provided for the race.

For her third place, the two-time world champion received a check for 250 Swedish crowns, which corresponds to around 22 euros at the current exchange rate. In addition, it was not even a cash check, but a voucher for a hardware store chain where Dahlqvist had to spend the 22 euros. A bad joke, thinks the Sprint World Cup winner.

“It’s a joke! Should I really be standing here with a check for 250 crowns that’s so big that it’s up to my knees? It’s just going to be embarrassing and stupid,” Dahlqvist rumbled before the award ceremony in “Expressen “-Conversation.

This sum was “simply unbelievable”, added the Swede. “And I don’t understand why that is either. 250 crowns? It would have been ok if they had added a zero, but even then it wouldn’t have been particularly glamorous,” said the superstar.

Joke prize money for first and second place too

For first and second place in the team sprint there was not the prize money that one would expect at a championship of the sometimes leading cross-country skiing nation. The winners Emma Ribom and Jonna Sundling received a voucher for 1000 Swedish crowns and the silver medal winners Ebba Andersson and Lisa Ingesson a voucher for 500 crowns.

“I think I won more in some competitions when I was 14,” Dahlqvist shook his head. Particularly bitter for her: Since she had forgotten her competition chip at home, she was sentenced to a penalty. “So now I’m minus, even though I won a medal. That’s just bad,” she said.

Incidentally, the individual races of the national championships were paid better. But that was no consolation for Dahlqvist and all the other team medal winners.

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