STOCKHOLM — Frida Karlsson, a Swedish cross-country skiing world champion, said she was standing up for women by bringing the issue of stalking into the public gaze after being “victimized” by a man in an ordeal lasting more than a year.
A man in his 60s was given a suspended sentence and ordered to pay 40,000 kronor ($4,100) in damages after being convicted of stalking Karlsson for a year and four months, according to Swedish news agency TT.
According to the indictment, the man called Karlsson 207 times, left her voicemails and text messages and approached her, including outside her apartment, TT reported. More than 7,000 pictures were found on the man’s phone, most of them of Karlsson.
The 25-year-old Karlsson, who was a team bronze medalist at the 2022 Beijing Olympics and has just won her first individual world championship title, spoke about her stalking case for the first time this week while at a training camp for Sweden’s winter athletes in the Greek island of Crete.
“This particular issue of stalking is something that affects many people and that was one of the reasons we reported this to the police,” Karlsson said at a news conference.
“It affects more than just public figures. It’s mainly women who are being victimized and that’s also why I’m doing this now.”
Karlsson was glad to have gone through the trial and “had my say.”
“Everyone should speak up when something is wrong and when someone crosses the line,” she added. “And I hope that everyone who is victimized does so.”
In February, a man who was found guilty of stalking U.S. Open tennis champion Emma Raducanu was given a five-year restraining order. He also was sentenced to an 18-month community service order that includes 200 hours of unpaid work.
In Karlsson’s case, both parties have appealed the verdict. The prosecutor, Christina Edlund Nilsson, wants to see the man go to prison.
Karlsson is hoping the man gets “the punishment he deserves.”
“Then it could possibly set a kind of standard, not only for me but for everyone else who is victimized as well.”
