Frida Hansdotter’s Way to Olympic Gold
Frida Hansdotter is the winner of women’s slalom at 2018 Winter Olympics. But besides showing good results in PyeongChang, the Swedish alpine ski racer is also a decent representative of her country at the World Cup and World Championships. Let’s dig a little deeper and find out how the athlete managed to reach such a success.
Early Career and World Championships Success
Hansdotter Frida poster
Frida Hansdotter was born on December 13, 1985, in Vasteras, Sweden. She started to compete internationally in 2003. In 2007, she debuted at the World Championships in Are and finished 30th.
The alpine skier gained her first World Championships medals in 2013 Schladming, becoming a bronze medalist in slalom and a silver medalist in team event. At 2015 World Championships, she won a silver medal in slalom. Also, she became 2-time bronze medalist in slalom and team event of the competition in 2017.
Participating in the European Cup events, Hansdotter earned 3 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze medals.
World Cup
Hansdotter Frida poster
Frida made a debut at the World Cup in 2007. In 2009, she rose to her first podium, being a silver medalist in slalom in Ofterschwang. She gained her first victory only in 2014 Kranjska Gora.
In total, the athlete won the World Cup events 4 times, being also 18-time silver and 11-time bronze medalist. In 2014 and 2015, she was second overall in slalom discipline. And in 2016, she gained her first World Cup slalom title, reaching also her best overall position to the date, the 5th place.
Olympic Games
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Frida Hansdotter debuted at the Winter Olympic Games in 2010 Vancouver and finished the slalom race on the 15th place. In 2014 Sochi, she improved her slalom result by being 5th as well as was on the 13th place in giant slalom.
To the date, 2018 Winter Olympics were the best ones in the athlete’s career. She claimed her first Olympic gold in slalom, finishing with the total time of 1:38.63. She also finished 6th in giant slalom.
Frida commented her victory: "I can barely believe it. I had a good day today". She also added:
"I'm surprised today. I wasn't so nervous. I wanted to take this day and enjoy. I had a smile on my face at the start. I really take the chance. So I think that was my thing today. To be able to ski at this level is so much fun and now I bring home a gold medal. It is a lot of hard work and a lot of years, but it is worth every minute when I am standing here".
So, Frida Hansdotter is a great example of a person, who proves that all the goals are achievable if you work hard and follow the chosen path. Though she didn’t win many events at the start of her career, her statistics improves year by year.
