It’s always fun to take one of Devon Kershaw’s rants and make it concrete. In this case, his apparent despair over the struggles of the Swedish men on the international racing scene. He’s ranted about it more than once, but in this particular case he referred to 2019-2020 as being the worst season for them ever, more or less.
So let’s look at the Swedish men’s distance results in World Cup, Olympic and World Championships, tally them up in categories and give each season a score. My entirely made up points are to award 10 points for a win, 5 for a podium, 2 for a top 10 and 1 for a top 30. (Results are counted in each category they fall in, so a win contributes 10 + 5 + 2 + 1 = 18 points.)
| Swedish men’s distance results. One point for top 30, two points for top 10, 5 for podiums and 10 for wins. | |||||
| Season | Wins | Podiums | Top 10 | Top 30 | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-2020 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 53 | 67 |
| 2018-2019 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 53 | 72 |
| 2017-2018 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 57 | 96 |
| 2016-2017 | 2 | 5 | 23 | 81 | 172 |
| 2015-2016 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 37 | 55 |
| 2014-2015 | 1 | 5 | 22 | 72 | 151 |
| 2013-2014 | 1 | 8 | 24 | 59 | 157 |
| 2012-2013 | 3 | 6 | 29 | 81 | 199 |
| 2011-2012 | 3 | 5 | 25 | 62 | 167 |
| 2010-2011 | 3 | 9 | 24 | 67 | 190 |
| 2009-2010 | 2 | 9 | 32 | 67 | 196 |
| 2008-2009 | 2 | 5 | 15 | 42 | 117 |
| 2007-2008 | 1 | 3 | 16 | 43 | 100 |
| 2006-2007 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 46 | 86 |
| 2005-2006 | 3 | 6 | 22 | 61 | 165 |
| 2004-2005 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 34 | 70 |
| 2003-2004 | 3 | 7 | 17 | 52 | 151 |
| 2002-2003 | 6 | 14 | 37 | 69 | 273 |
| 2001-2002 | 4 | 10 | 20 | 47 | 177 |
| 2000-2001 | 8 | 10 | 22 | 47 | 221 |
| 1999-2000 | 0 | 5 | 18 | 58 | 119 |
| 1998-1999 | 2 | 4 | 30 | 67 | 167 |
| 1997-1998 | 0 | 2 | 19 | 59 | 107 |
| 1996-1997 | 0 | 1 | 22 | 60 | 109 |
| 1995-1996 | 0 | 2 | 16 | 57 | 99 |
| 1994-1995 | 1 | 3 | 20 | 63 | 128 |
| 1993-1994 | 0 | 4 | 17 | 50 | 104 |
| 1992-1993 | 2 | 4 | 17 | 46 | 120 |
| 1991-1992 | 1 | 3 | 18 | 42 | 103 |
2019-2020 isn’t technically the worst on this list, but close enough. It was pretty bad. I don’t quite recall what happened in 2015-2016. I know Marcus Hellner was still racing then but he had a pretty terrible season. My guess would be some combination of injuries or illnesses, but I have a terrible memory for that stuff.
For comparison, here’s the same thing for sprinting:
| Swedish men’s sprint results. One point for top 30, two points for top 10, 5 for podiums and 10 for wins. | |||||
| Season | Wins | Podiums | Top 10 | Top 30 | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-2020 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 51 | 82 |
| 2018-2019 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 57 | 85 |
| 2017-2018 | 0 | 3 | 14 | 42 | 85 |
| 2016-2017 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 41 | 88 |
| 2015-2016 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 34 | 54 |
| 2014-2015 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 29 | 43 |
| 2013-2014 | 2 | 7 | 19 | 43 | 136 |
| 2012-2013 | 4 | 6 | 17 | 43 | 147 |
| 2011-2012 | 3 | 8 | 20 | 52 | 162 |
| 2010-2011 | 7 | 8 | 31 | 51 | 223 |
| 2009-2010 | 4 | 8 | 26 | 54 | 186 |
| 2008-2009 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 37 | 79 |
| 2007-2008 | 1 | 6 | 19 | 41 | 119 |
| 2006-2007 | 0 | 5 | 24 | 56 | 129 |
| 2005-2006 | 7 | 12 | 30 | 49 | 239 |
| 2004-2005 | 1 | 5 | 20 | 50 | 125 |
| 2003-2004 | 3 | 10 | 24 | 49 | 177 |
| 2002-2003 | 4 | 11 | 30 | 52 | 207 |
In this case 2014-2015 and 2015-2015 both stand out quite a bit more than any of the more recent seasons, although they all have a distinct lack of wins.
Hopefully they can turn things around!