Ebba Andersson was the big favorite before 30 km.
And the Swede fulfilled all expectations in the women’s final WC race: She crushed all opposition and took her second WC gold.
Ebba Andersson is the Swede who has shown the very best form during the WC weeks. So the question before the 30 km on Saturday was: who could threaten the Swede?
We got the answer after about half the race. No. After 17.2 kilometers, Ebba Andersson had acquired a lead of 30 seconds.
Shortly afterwards the lead had grown to over 40 seconds. There the settlement for the gold was over.
But behind Andersson chased a quintet, with Frida Karlsson and Linn Svahn as Swedish elements, so the fight for silver and bronze was very much alive.
Both Karlsson and Svahn looked lively for a long time and there was no talk of a walla fiasco this day.
Before the last lap, Ebba Andersson had a lead of over a minute ahead of Karlsson, Svahn, the Norwegian Kalvå, the Finnish Niskanen and the American Brennan.
On the last lap, Kalvå grabbed a lead, with Frida Karlsson shortly behind.