Sweden held the press.
Jonna Sundling and Emma Ribom win the sprint relay – after great drama.
Sweden now has three WC gold medals in Planica.
It’s no wonder that expectations were high for Sweden ahead of Sunday’s sprint relay in the World Ski Championships. When the championship started with mostly sprints, Sweden finished first, second, third and fourth in the final, and the dominance was completely total.
New gold
Sweden then proved once again that it has by far the best national sprint team in the world, and any skater could actually have competed in the sprint relay – and Sweden would still have been favourites. But the choice finally fell on the gold medalist from earlier this week, Jonna Sundling, and the silver medalist Emma Ribom. It has been pointed out in advance as Sweden’s best chance for gold, but the qualification left something to be desired.
The qualification was done for the first time in a championship individually, and there was no talk of Sweden not advancing, but surprisingly, Sundling and Ribom only finished second, behind the USA. The USA, with a Jessie Diggins who chose to skip the skiathlon to focus on the sprint relay, showed great form in the qualifiers, and there were questions whether Sweden chose the right skis today, or whether it was simply a matter of holding back.
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Big drama
Emma Ribom drove Sweden’s first leg and was closely matched against Jessie Diggins, who did everything to create a gap to the other opponents. However, the distance at the first exchange was minimal between Sweden and the USA. Jonna Sundling chose to lie on the back of the USA’s Julia Kern throughout her first leg, and when Emma Ribom set out on her second leg, the distance between Sweden and the USA was still non-existent.
Jessie Diggins made another attempt to pull away during the third leg, but Emma Ribom held on after half the race was completed. When Jonna Sundling handed over to Emma Ribom’s last stretch, the USA, Sweden, Norway, Germany and Finland were in a tight cluster. Ribom did well in his final stretch, handing over to Sundling in a close third behind the USA and Norway. Less than a second separated the top nations when Sundling went out on his final stretch.
Sundling has won so many sprint races in similar fashion before, and once again showed how dominant she is. Sundling outshined Norway, and took home Sweden’s third WC gold during the competitions in Planica – after an incomparable sprint by Jonna Sundling. Norway was second, and the USA third.
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