Sandra Näslund (born July 6, 1996 in Kramfors ) is a Swedish freestyle skier . She starts in the ski cross discipline . Her greatest successes to date are the 2017 world championship title and the overall and discipline rankings in the 2017/18 World Cup season.
Näslund, who sporadically also competes in alpine ski races in addition to ski cross competitions (especially FIS races in the slalom and giant slalom disciplines) made her debut on March 3, 2012 in the Freestyle World Cup . In Branäs she took 22nd place and immediately got the first World Cup points. In the 2012/13 World Cup season , she achieved a top 10 placement. She finished 14th at the 2013 World Championships in Voss , was Swedish champion for the first time and just missed a medal in fourth at the Junior World Championships in Chiesa in Valmalenco .
In the 2013/14 season , Näslund made it into the top ten six times in eleven World Cup appearances. She achieved her first World Cup podium with second place in Val Thorens and third place in Åre . At the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi , she finished fifth. In April 2014 she won the silver medal at the Junior World Championships in Chiesa in Valmalenco. She finished the season in fifth place in the Ski Cross World Cup. After four top 10 results, she had to end the 2014/15 season prematurely due to an injury. At the beginning of the 2015/16 season , she finished second at the World Cup in Val Thorens. In the further course of the season she took third place in Innichen and third and second place in Idre . In March 2016 she won the gold medal at the Junior World Championships in Val Thorens. At the end of the season she finished fourth in the Skicross World Cup.
In the 2016/17 World Cup season , Näslund took second place four times and third place twice. She also won at Watles and Idre . At the end of the season, she finished seventh in the overall World Cup and second in the Ski Cross World Cup. At the end of January 2017 she became Swedish ski cross champion for the second time. At the highlight of the season, the 2017 World Championships in Sierra Nevada , she won the gold medal. She also won the gold medal at the Junior World Championships in Chiesa in Valmalenco in April 2017. In the course of the 2017/18 season , Näslund was superior to the competition: She was on the podium in nine out of ten World Cup races, seven times as the winner and twice as third. This secured her victory in both the overall World Cup and the ski cross discipline. On the other hand, she could not live up to her role of favorite at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang and narrowly missed a medal in fourth.
In the 2018/19 World Cup , Näslund achieved three wins and four second places, which resulted in second place in the discipline classification. At the 2019 World Championships in Park City , she failed in the quarterfinals. In the 2019/20 World Cup she won three races, was second five times and third once. She has never been classified worse than fifth, which is the second time that she has won the discipline classification.
Sweden
