The leader from yesterday’s sprint Magdalena Olsson managed her fine starting position and took another gold and waved a Swedish flag on the run.
– I was very nervous and made some mistakes but that is common in pursuit starts. I saw them behind me and waited for them to catch up and I saved energy for the last lap (out of three), says Olsson, who was more satisfied with today’s gold than yesterday’s, in SVT’s broadcast.
Linda Lindkvist moved up from ninth place and took the silver. Frida Sandberg finished strongly and took the bronze and arranged an all-Swedish podium.
– It’s very, very funny with an all-Swedish podium again today with two other girls taking silver and bronze, says expert Josefine Heikka.
Alexandersson hopes to feel better on Friday
Orienteering queen Alexandersson would drop out to cure the covid infection that she is feeling the effects of and hopes to come fresher to Friday’s middle distance.
She didn’t go full speed either and already after 14 minutes of riding had lost 1.27 on Magdalena Olsson who went out first. Alexandersson was then outside the top 10. Instead of breaking, Alexandersson ended up further and further behind the lead.
The mild weather with eight plus degrees meant that the organizer moved the women’s start forward by a quarter of an hour from 13.10 to 12.55.
Norwegian Jörgen Baklid defended his lead from the sprint and was able to win by far with a Norwegian flag in hand.