An exhausted Frida Karlsson collapsed after her victory in the Tour de Ski last year and did not attend the award ceremony as she received medical care instead.
"It was a special case, with the strain I had going into the last day. There was a lot of stress, and a lot of races you had done. I think it's useful to have been there once. But I'm not afraid that it will happen again," she says.
"A little bit of finesse"
Karlsson has just completed his second of three high-altitude camps this pre-season, in Livigno, Italy. The high-altitude effort is her first real one and she hopes to develop and learn a lot about her body and where the limit is.
"I have a coach who is very good at that. Per (Nilsson) always makes me think along those lines, even in the interval sessions here. I'm good at putting my head under my shoulder and just driving to the finish. I like the light-heartedness of it, but he's come up with some good finesse.
"Thinking more in the long term"
Without a championship this year, she hopes that there will be extra focus on training and development even when the competition season has started.
"I'm thinking a bit more about the long term and I'm going to keep training during the competition season, and just let the ball roll. I don't have that super pointy window where I'm supposed to be the best. There are three championship years after the season and it feels great that the goal is the development and not a special result.
Is the Tour de Ski a goal anyway?
"It's the most fun race of the year, just how it's set up. It tickles a little in the stomach when you hear the Tour de Ski. It's kind of the same there, I'm going to go with what I have and make sure to have fun.