Swedish Skis at the Trondheim World Championships – How Much Does the Equipment Matter in the Sprint?

The World Championships in Trondheim kicked off today with the sprint events. One major talking point has been the performance of the Swedish freestyle skis, which have been up and down throughout the winter. The big questions are: will the Swedish athletes have competitive equipment, and can it lead to medals?

How Much Can Ski Equipment Impact Performance?

Without inside insight into the national team, we at Skisens can’t say exactly how their skis are prepared—but we do know how significantly equipment can affect performance. With completely incorrect waxing, friction can increase by as much as 50% compared to an optimally gliding ski. Elite teams rarely miss by that much. A more realistic spread between a “great ski day” and a “poor ski day” is around ±10% compared to a normal setup.

Over a 1.5 km sprint, that difference can translate to roughly 6 seconds between a phenomenal ski and a disastrous one. You can read more about how we estimate this here: Hur mycket tjänar skidåkare på bättre glid? | SKISENS.

Why Ski Material Could Decide the Sprint Results

In many World Cup and championship sprints, the gap between 5th and 30th place is often less than 5 seconds—so there is a high likelihood that equipment will play a decisive role. Jonna Sundling has also been known to win prologues by up to 6 seconds, which made her a strong bet to be at the top today.

And she delivered—congratulations Jonna!

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