Enar Josefsson

Enar Josefsson grew up as the eldest boy in a brood of seven. His father was sickly, they lived under harsh material conditions and he had to contribute to the family’s budget by forestry work in the winter. When he showed his talent a local merchant let him run in the forests between small villages and isolated places with an order block from the sports and hardware store where customers could sign up for deliveries. After some time his native village became too small and he changed clubs to train and run more professionally. He competed for Åsele NS 1945-49, Skellefteå SK 1950-54 and Östersund SK 1955-57.

Even though Josefsson had only a few top results in 1950 before he traveled to the World Championships in Lake Placid and Rumford, he did extremely well, winning three medals, with individual silvers in he 18 and 50 km. Therefore, he was sometimes called “the eternal runner-up,” before he won World Championship gold in the relay, running the last leg for Sweden. At the next Winter Olympics in Oslo, Sweden again won the bronze medal with three skiiers returning from the 1950 World team, Josefsson now on third leg. In the same season, Josefsson was the best Swedish skier in the 18 km at the Swedish Ski Games in Falun as runner-up behind the winner Viljo Vellonen of Finland. He was back in Falun during the 1954 World Ski Championship, participating in all three individual events with the best result being ninth place in two events.

Josefsson’s only individual Swedish Championship came in 1952 in the 30 km, when he also placed second in 15 and 50 km events. Here, he received the trophy “for best performance” from Princess Sibylla’s hands. During his career he won 87 races and was second in 48, but was only 15 minutes from seven more victories.