My name is Sandra Näslund, I am a 23-year-old Ski Cross athlete, representing the Swedish national team.
I grew up in Kramfors, a small town in an area in Sweden called The High Coast.
Since I was young sports has always been a big part of my life. My dad spent a lot of time with me outside, teaching me to ski, skate, play soccer and so on. When I was around 4-5 years I started Alpine skiing and after that I have basically been living in the slope. We were a group of kids around my aged in the club and we had a lot of fun together, in and outside the slopes. The joy of the sport has been important to me, even if winning competitions always been what I aimed for, having fun while skiing is a big reason to my success. I wanted to ski as much as I could and in all kinds of terrain, that gave me a good feeling on the skis.
Ski Cross journey
I started as an alpine skier, when I was 14 I tried Ski Cross for the first time, and since I was 16 I have been a part of the Swedish Ski Cross Team. From my first year in the national team, the season 2012/2013 I have been racing the world cup. I learned a lot those first years, skiing well-built course and competing against the best skiers in the world. I had a good base from the alpine skiing which made me improve fast in Ski Cross. I took my first world cup podium already season 2013/2014 with a 2nd place. One month later I competed my first Olympic game and ended up in 5th place. The season 2016/2017 I won my first world cup race, ended up second in the world cup overall and became World Champion.
Last season is my best so far in my career, I won 7 out of 10 world cup races, and claimed both the Ski Cross and the Freestyle overall title.
Goals
My goal is to keep being in the top and fight for medals. I hope to inspire young skiers to have fun and follow their dreams.