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Walter Wallberg made his way down the hill quickly with stable jumps and generally good riding. It was nothing and stood out, but was enough to reach a final on Thursday. Wallberg finished in sixth place.

– They were a little tense. I had a pretty big miss on the first landing. The first jump was not good. But then I got into it and saved it okay. But it was a bit nerve-wracking, says Wallberg.

Best in the qualifier was the Japanese Ikuma Horishima with the Canadians Julien Viel and Mikaël Kingsbury shortly after.

– The goal was to get to the final, it wasn’t my best ride, but I’m happy. I’m looking forward to the final. I just want to do my best. Then I know my chances are good, says Kingsbury.

Experienced skiers are also happy with Wallberg.

– Walter (Wallberg) is one of the best. He is an Olympic champion for a reason. I had some injury problems when I went here, I know he did too. So it’s an even match. I look forward to racing against him.

Wallberg himself was both happy and relieved after qualifying.

How do they feel about going straight to the final?

– So damn nice. Partly for the body but also for the psyche to not have to go out with that uncertainty. Then you can focus on the final race. They mean a lot and there is more to give, says Wallberg.

They were the top ten from the first qualifier who made it directly to the final. Remaining riders will get the chance again in the second qualifier, which, just like the final, will be decided on Thursday.

But that it would going down the road for Wallberg was far from obvious. He has had several of the last few seasons cut up by injuries and has previously described it as feeling like he is made of styrofoam.

Ahead of the 2022 Olympics, he struggled with a cruciate ligament injury, but came back and took a blistering gold. In early spring 2024, he was forced to interrupt the season after problems with the other knee. And last season was also cut short when the 25-year-old from Bollnäs had to prioritize shoulder surgery over the WC and World Cup.

The plan was to get in as good shape as possible before this winter’s Olympics, but instead he has had to fight first a stress fracture in his back and then an incipient herniated disc. Something he revealed to the public only in connection with the trip to Italy.

Once in place in the freestyle resort Livigno in the Italian Alps, however, he doesn’t want that to be a factor.

– Now that I’m here, I don’t do anything different from what I had done before. I don’t have to take the body into account that way, he says.

– We will not wrap ourselves in bubble wrap and wait for the body to get better. Now we all go in, do the best we can. And then you have to put your back to the side a little. I try not to think too much about it and just go with it.

Wallberg completed the qualifying run with painkillers in the body. A pile of different stuff, he jokingly called it himself. The same will apply in Thursday’s final.

Because it hurts, you can tell by the way Walter Wallberg moves. And he admits that there were times when he doubted that this would be possible.

– I have doubted many times. It has always been a goal that I will defend my Olympic gold, but periodically I have doubted whether I will even be able to make it to the start.

He has a plan to increase the level of difficulty – and thus hopefully the judges’ score – in Thursday’s final.

And that should be enough for gold?

– Absolut.

The other Swede in the qualifier was Rasmus Stegfeldt, who is making his first Olympics. For him, the first run was not enough to make it directly to the final.

Stegfeldt finished in 17th place and thus gets another chance on Thursday.

– It felt very good at first. I was almost surprised how good it felt and then it became as if automatically that you made some mistakes. But it was perfectly fine today, not my best ride. I was better in training, says Rasmus Stegfeldt.