12:39Sweden’s Gustav Kvarnbrink made his World Cup debut this winter in Ruka (Finland), before being called up for the stages in Les Rousses (Jura) and Falun (Sweden). However, the 25-year-old cross-country skier almost gave up hope of taking part in these events before the winter had even begun.
During his summer preparations, Gustav Kvarnbrink was hit by a car during a training session he was sharing with Moa Lundgren in Birsta (Sweden). The cross-country skier spoke about the incident in an interview with the VK newspaper.
” I dodged a car that didn’t have the best visibility and was coming a little too fast. Moa screamed and I looked to the left and saw that he was coming towards me. I had to get up and jump against the bonnet to avoid being trapped. What’s more, the asphalt was a bit damp, which made it easy for me to slide. It went pretty well, I broke a few sticks, but otherwise they were just minor scratches. You’d expect a long rehabilitation,” said Gustav Kvarnbrink.
It even took him a while to realise what had really happened. ” It was more in the evening, when I went to bed, that I started to think about it and to realise how lucky I’d been, that a guardian angel had protected me.
As the ski-wheels take over from the skis, the memory of the accident is an important reminder of the importance of road safety in training. “It was an enriching experience: you can’t rely on the cars to see you, you have to keep checking. You tend to think that they’ll see you when you arrive, but it’s far from easy,” concludes the Swede.
