Long History

The award, considered one of the most prestigious of the year has been awarded annually by the Swedish morning newspaper, Svenska Dagbladet since 1925.

The Swedish biathlon star was awarded the prize based on her Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals in Pyeongchang, Korea last February. She is the first biathlete to win the prize.

Jonsson is also in the running for the Jerringpriset, which goes also goes to Sweden’s top sports achivevement. Unlike the Svenska Dagbladet award, which is awarded by a jury, the Jerringspriset is voted on by the Swedish public. Swedish biathlon legend Magdalena Forsberg won the Jerringspriset six times, but never the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal, which makes Jonssson’s achievement that much more impressive.

Extremely Nervous

The immensity of this honor was not lost on the smiling Jonsson, during a press conference in the Östersund Ski stadium press center. She admitted that she had been, “extremely nervous about the award. There has been a lot of attention and talk about the award recently. The jury based the award on the World Championship medals, but winning the Overall World Cup was more important to me. I had a great season last year and have won several other prizes.”

During the rather impromptu press conference, Jonsson spoke live to the newspaper officials in Stockholm and also did a short Q and A session on live radio. Reporters surrounded her as she received a congratulatory bouquet of flowers and a cake.

Opening Competition Wednesday Evening

The gracious Jonsson handled the hoopla with her typical ease, despite being delayed from going to Official Training for the first World Cup competition of the year, the 15K Individual tomorrow night. Jonsson will attempt to repeat her season-opening victory of last December, when she shot clean to win by 39.7 seconds over Germany’s Kati Wilhelm.