Sweden’s Blomqvist Announces Retirement

“Alpine has been the funnest thing I know for as long as I can remember and when I look back on my career and my path towards the top it has always been worth it,” Blomqvist said. “But since a while, I’ve discovered other things that are even more fun nowadays, and I want to explore.”

Blomqvist has been part of the national team since 2010 and has, among other things, a World Junior Championship silver medal in combined from 2014, a victory in the European Cup, nine starts in the World Cup, and Swedish Championship medals in all disciplines, of which two are gold. Her career has been lined with many injuries, which Blomqvist always felt strong motivation to fight back from, but now she has decided to not ski at the ultimate elite level and instead focus on her studies at the Umea Medical Center on Sweden’s East coast.

“I am proud of what I accomplished and also that I am now taking this decision,” she said. “It feels quite right and I am taking on a whole new challenge filled with motivation. What I miss most is the community in the national team and I’m so grateful to have been a part of it. I have learned a lot about myself and it brought me many of the friendships and experiences in my life. Somewhere, there’s a dream scenario about getting back in national team clothes, but maybe as a national physician.”

“Lisa has always been a ski racer beyond the usual, but, unfortunately, injuries have been in the way of a career among the world’s top elite racers,” said Lars Melin, Head Women’s Coach of the Swedish team. “She has always been a goal-conscious and hard-working athlete who will succeed with everything she’s taking care of in the future. Really funny that she has the ambition to return to the ski federation in another role, I look forward to that day.”

Release courtesy of the Swedish Ski Federation.