Ebba Andersson fell – and Frida Karlsson lost.
But it was a new medal for Sweden.
Emma Ribom, Ebba Andersson, Frida Karlsson and Maja Dahlqvist come third in the ladies’ relay.
Given Sweden’s enormous success during the World Cup so far, it was no wonder that there was a huge favoritism among the blue and yellow skaters before the women’s relay in the World Cup. Sweden has won three golds out of a possible four, and also lined up the other medals.
Big favorites
However, Sweden made an unexpected choice before the relay, when they chose to stand over Jonna Sundling, who won two of Sweden’s gold medals so far in the WC. But she did a weak 10 kilometer race – at the same time as Maja Dahlqvist convinced – which gave Dahlqvist the chance for the final stretch on Thursday.
Emma Ribom ran Sweden’s first leg and gave Sweden a good position for a medal. Ebba Andersson then took over and was in the lead together with Finland, Norway and Germany when the accident happened. In a tight curve, Andersson fell, and the pole also broke. A Swedish leader was able to quickly reach Ebba Andersson with a new pole, but Sweden lost just over 10 seconds to the rest of the top runners due to the fall.
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Lost everything
Frida Karlsson was 8.7 seconds behind leading Germany when she started her stretch, but it wasn’t long before she caught up. But Norway and Ingvild Flugstad Östberg made a move with two kilometers left of the third leg, and then Frida Karlsson lost enormously. Frida also had difficulty keeping pace with Germany, but when she switched to Maja Dahlqvist, Sweden was a full 15 seconds behind Norway at the top.
Maja Dahlqvist initially looked to lose to Norwegian Anne Kjersti Kalvå at the top, and didn’t look to gain anything from Germany either. When two kilometers had been covered in the last stretch, Norway had pulled away and was 30(!) seconds ahead of Sweden. Instead, Maja Dahlqvist had to fight for the bronze against Finland, and it was highly dramatic. But Maja Dahlqvist won the sprint – and secured another medal for Sweden.
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