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The accident occurred on a training run in
Innichen, northern Italy on Dec. 19 2016. She was flown home and
kept in a medically-induced coma for several months, with Sweden
ski cross director Joar Batelson revealing in May that she was
conscious and communicating again in May last year.
Holmlund is now back on her feet and taking her first careful
steps in a remarkable recovery that few thought possible. She
hopes to attend Idrottsgalan, Sweden's sporting awards dinner,
in the middle of January together with her boyfriend and fellow
ski race Victor Ohling Norberg.
"In our eyes, who feared the worst, she has made fantastic steps
forward," Batelson told reporters recently as the team returned
to Innichen for a competition in December.
Having made its Olympic debut at the 2010 Games in Vancouver,
the hair-raising sport of ski cross has fast become popular with
viewers around the world.
Competitors race against one another through a course featuring
man-made and natural jumps and turns at high speeds, and while
intentional contact with others is banned, crashes are not
uncommon.
Few, however, result in the kind of serious head injuries that
left Holmlund, who won Olympic bronze in Sochi, fighting for her
life.
Cross-country skier Charlotte Kalla, who won gold for Sweden
with a stunning last leg in the women's 4x5km relay, paid an
emotional tribute to Holmlund as the two opened a ski centre
together in December.
"Anna, you are a fighter, your fighting spirit to come back
after the accident gives us perspective on life," she told
Holmlund in front of an audience of hundreds of locals in Alnoe,
close to where Holmlund now lives in Sundsvall.
"Your will and attitude have made a strong impression on me. Let
your fire be an inspiration to us all - nothing is given, life
is what you make it, in good times and in bad."
While Kalla heads off to chase more gold in Pyeongchang,
Holmlund will stay at home to continue her recovery.
"Anna is always happy, when I arrive now it's to a very happy
girl, the same old Anna," her father Lars told Swedish radio.
"It's better and better, but there's a long way to go."
(Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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