STOCKHOLM (AP) — A Swedish journalist arrested in Turkey in March when he traveled there to cover nationwide protests was released and returned home to Sweden on Saturday.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson wrote on X that “hard work in relative silence has paid off” and that Joakim Medin's release was due to intensive lobbying by the Swedish foreign ministry and European colleagues.
“Welcome home Joakim!” Kristersson wrote on X.
Last month, a Turkish court had convicted Medin of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Medin was given an 11-month suspended prison term, but initial reports said he would remain in custody awaiting the outcome of a separate trial on terrorism-related charges.
Medin, a journalist with the daily Dagens ETC, was detained March 27 as he arrived at Istanbul airport to cover last month’s nationwide protests following the arrest of Istanbul’s popular mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu. The journalist was jailed days later on charges of insulting Erdogan and membership of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.
Swedish media reported that Medin landed early Saturday at Stockholm airport, where he was welcomed by his wife and the Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard.
“All is well after all. I’m really tired in body and mind. But I feel good,” he said, according to Dagens ETC. “The pressure on my chest disappeared as soon as we lifted off the ground and we started heading home.”
Medin also said later on Saturday that “I’ve been thinking from day one about what to say at this moment. Long live freedom: freedom of the press, freedom of speech and freedom of movement," Sveriges Television reported.
Medin said that he spent his prison time in solitary confinement in a ward for political prisoners. He said that he had not been subjected to violence, but that the isolation took its toll.
Kristersson said on X that “it is well known that Sweden and Turkey have different views on quite a few and big things. But we have also developed a climate of cooperation that allows us to discuss quite difficult issues.”
Local media reported that while Medin's separate trial on terrorism charges would still take place, he would not be required to attend it.
Swedish journalist Joakim Medin with his wife journalist Sofie Axelsson attends a press conference in Stockholm, Sweden, Saturday May 17, 2025. (Oscar Olsson/TT via AP)
Swedish journalist Joakim Medin with his wife journalist Sofie Axelsson attends a press conference in Stockholm, Sweden, Saturday May 17, 2025. (Oscar Olsson/TT via AP)
ALTENMARKT-ZAUCHENSEE, Austria (AP) — Lindsey Vonn showed again Saturday she is the standout downhill racer in this Olympic season.
Vonn won her second World Cup downhill in four races this season, raising expectations in this remarkable comeback racing at age 41 with her right knee rebuilt using titanium implants.
The United States star was 0.37 seconds faster than Kajsa Vickhoff Lie in tricky, overcast conditions. Vonn was jumping up cheering in the leader’s box when her teammate Jacqueline Wiles raced into third place, 0.48 back.
On a shortened course that took her fewer than 67 seconds to complete, Vonn still clocked 130 kph (81 mph) for one of the fastest speeds any women racer will hit this season.
“It feels amazing. I try to enjoy every single second I am out here because it is just so fun to go fast,” she said.
Vonn crossed the finish line with a look of determined satisfaction, punching the air with her right fist and nodding with short, sharp movements of her head.
“I knew what it was going to take to win today," she said. "It was a sprint and I had to give it everything I had, definitely had to risk a little bit.”
With each victory, Vonn extends her record as the oldest race winner in the 60-season history of the World Cup circuit. Her 84th career win on the circuit was her record-extending 45th in downhill.
The United States star later made a family video phone call alongside her coach Aksel Lund Svindal, the men’s downhill champion at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics where Vonn took bronze in the women’s race.
Vonn was Olympic downhill champion at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games and shapes as a strong contender for the next gold medal race scheduled Feb. 8 on the first Sunday at the Milan Cortina Olympics.
It is at the storied Cortina d’Ampezzo slope where Vonn has excelled in her career, including a World Cup downhill win eight years ago where Wiles also was third.
“Being on the podium again with her is super special,” Wiles said.
Sofia Goggia, the 2018 Olympic champion, was only 17th Saturday trailing Vonn by 0.97.
The defending Olympic champion, Corinne Suter, made her season debut Saturday after injuries and was more than a second slower than Vonn.
The U.S. team had five racers in the top 20 with world champion Breezy Johnson seventh, 21-year-old Allison Mollin a career-best 14th and Keely Cashman tied for 18th, less than a second behind Vonn.
The race was delayed for 25 minutes while Austrian prospect Magdalena Egger was airlifted from the course after a season-ending fall and crash into the safety nets. She stood up with a bloodied nose, and later tests showed extensive damage to her right knee including a torn ACL, the Austrian ski federation said.
Egger was runner-up in Vonn’s season-opening downhill win last month at St. Moritz, Switzerland.
Vonn extended her lead in the season-long World Cup downhill standings, after finishing second and third in the other races. Saturday’s race was the fourth of nine scheduled downhills in the World Cup this season.
She earned 100 race points and now leads by 129 from Emma Aicher of Germany, who placed sixth Saturday. Vonn is chasing a ninth World Cup downhill season title a full 10 years after her eighth, when she also won in Zauchensee.
“I felt like I was skiing better in super-G this summer," she said, "but when I got to the races in St Moritz everything was working really well right from the start.”
On Sunday, Vonn will start in a super-G that should be on a longer course than the downhill.
AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing
United States' Lindsey Vonn sprays sparkling wine as she celebrates on podium after winning an alpine ski, women's World Cup downhill, in Zauchensee, Austria, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)
United States' Lindsey Vonn is airborne as she speeds down the course to win an alpine ski, women's World Cup downhill, in Zauchensee, Austria, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)
Austria's Magdalena Egger is lifted on a helicopter after crashing during an alpine ski, women's World Cup downhill, in Zauchensee, Austria, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
Austria's Magdalena Egger gets medical assistance after crashing during an alpine ski, women's World Cup downhill, in Zauchensee, Austria, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
United States' Lindsey Vonn is airborne as he speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup downhill, in Zauchensee, Austria, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)
United States' Lindsey Vonn reacts at the finish line during an alpine ski, women's World Cup downhill, in Zauchensee, Austria, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)
United States' Lindsey Vonn speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup downhill, in Zauchensee, Austria, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
