Lars-Börje Eriksson was one of Sweden’s speed skiers despite his slender physique. It was said, that in his big, blue helmet he looked like a bump on two legs, hence the nickname Bulan. Lars-Börje grew up in a family of ski enthusiasts. His mother was Eivor Berglund from Åre, an alpine skier who competed at the 1956 Cortina Olympic Games. As a 10-year-old he already placed third in the national Donald Duck Cup in 1976. Living in Stockholm, his home slope was the 45 m high Sundbyberg’s Hill. Therefore, he started with slalom until he came to the Järpen ski gymnasium in 1982. In 1987 he was a surprise Swedish champion in super-G. Two more national titles were to follow in 1989 in the downhill and giant slalom. In January 1988 he finished sixth and eighth in two World Cup races in downhill just before the Olympics, and at the 1988 Calgary Olympics won the bronze medal in the first ever Olympic super-G. In one of the downhill training runs in Calgary, he only saved himself by going up onto the safety net and slid 10-20 meters along it, before he turned onto the course again and continued, a classic video sequence at the time. He became the first Swedish skier ever to win a super-G in the World Cup, winning the Aspen race in February 1989. His second World Cup win was a giant-slalom in the same season in Thredbo, Australia.
Eriksson’s career was successful but short. In the downhill race of the 1991 World Championships in Saalbach, he fell and broke his leg. In the course of the subsequent operation, the doctors put in overly long nails. When the leg healed together the nail migrated into the knee. From this Eriksson contracted a chronic inflammation. He was faced with the choice to either have a risky new operation, to be able to continue competitive skiing, or to stop. He retired from active sports and moved to Åre to become CEO of a company working to develop the town as a tourist destination.
Sweden