By Gavin Kentch
Norway was clear-eyed about its strategy coming into today’s women’s relay: Go hard from the gun, letting Heidi Weng, Astrid Øyre Slind, and Therese Johaug rack up enough of a lead over their Swedish rivals across the first three legs that anchor Kristin Austgulen Fosnæs could hold off Jonna Sundling over the final 7.5 kilometers.
This strategy worked until it didn’t, and that point was roughly two kilometers into the final leg. After the first leg, Weng for Norway was 36 seconds up on Emma Ribom for Sweden. At halfway, Frida Karlsson’s strong effort had brought Sweden up to only 30 seconds in arrears. Johaug and Ebba Andersson engaged in an all-time time trial of a third lap, each drilling it around the course in isolation; this round went to Johaug, finally, who put seven seconds into her Swedish foil over the final relay leg of her illustrious career.
Fosnæs headed out on the course with a gap of 37.2 seconds over Sundling. It wouldn’t be enough.
I had to check what happened next on the live timing about five times because I thought I had misread it. I did not. At the 22.5km mark of the race (i.e., the final handoff), Fosnæs had, as noted, 37.2 seconds on Sundling. At the 23.2-kilometer mark, the gap was down to just 15.1 seconds.
That’s right. Jonna Sundling put 22 seconds on Kristin Fosnæs in 700 meters.
Pictures in a second, but first check out this all-time moment when Andersson realizes what Sundling has just done. This is a literal spit take. I love it.
And for a perhaps somewhat different vibe, here are the Americans after their race (probably have to turn your sound up, sorry):
Anyway. Sweden won today, for just the second time ever in a women’s world championship relay; Stina Nilsson dusted Johaug over the anchor leg in Seefeld in 2019 to take gold, but somehow 2019 and 2025 are the only times Sweden has won this race since women were first permitted to race a relay at the 1954 World Championships.
Norway was second, 0.7 seconds back, after Fosnæs recovered enough to fight with Sundling over the rest of the anchor leg. Over a minute later, Victoria Carl outdueled sprinter Jasmi Joensuu to give Germany third, 0.5 seconds ahead of Finland.
Two-plus minutes later, Nadine Fähndrich got the better of Jessie Diggins to claim fifth for Switzerland, with the U.S. sixth. The result breaks a string of top-five American relay performances at world champs dating back to Val di Fiemme in 2013; they had been fourth four times, and fifth twice, in that span.
Results from today are here. Race article coming soon (update: it may be found here). Until then, here are some photos. All shots: Noah Eckstein for Nordic Insights.
You’re reading this on Nordic Insights, one man’s labor of love dedicated to publicizing American nordic skiing. Last season’s GoFundMe is literally the only reason why I turned a profit in years one and two of Nordic Insights, and in turn the only reason why there is a year three of Nordic Insights for you to be reading now: I was okay with working for very little money to get this love letter toAmerican cross-country skiing off the ground, but I didn’t want to lose money for the privilege of doing so. If you would like to support what remains a brutally shoestring operation, last season’s GoFundMe may be found here. Thank you for your consideration, and, especially, for reading.
Correction:
Sundling erased a 22-second gap to Fosnaes in the first _700m_ of her leg (“well under 2 km” as written in the article is correct but less precise).
She closed the full 37-second difference by 3km point of her leg.
Sundling looked really intimidating at the start, flexing her muscles, in beast mode.
Jonna’s first 700m are the fastest (her 2m42s vs 2m50s of Therese’s and 3m04s of Fosnaes).
On the second lap, Sundling and Fosnaes passed the same 700m at 3m14s.
(Therese on her leg — 3m01s)
It would be interesting to know whether the nerves affected Fosnaes’s performance or was it the best of her current form? (some Norvegian newspapers write she was very very nervous and could not sleep at night)
We’ll never know I guess.
In fact, Fosnaes skied her leg ~2 seconds faster than Jessie Diggins,
at the same speed as Nadine Faendrich,
only 8 seconds slower than Victoria Carl and Jasmi Joensuu, and
50 seconds slower than Therese (she was the fastest).
Jonna skied her leg 11 seconds slower than Therese.
Assuming that Therese is the fastest at 7.5km,
Fosnaes needed to ski only 11 seconds faster. Tough.
Other notes: Emma Ribom seemed to have some heart worries during the race (according to expressen.se reporting), and I myself noticed her looking at her watch during the race (was surprised to see that).
Thanks for wonderful reporting and _insights_!
Huh, guess I should have checked the live timing, or perhaps my math about same, a sixth time.
You are fully correct. Thanks for pointing that out; I appreciate it.
And more broadly, thank you for the kind words on our coverage. I am really proud of the team on the ground over there, and like to think that we are bringing back some truly helpful and, yes, insightful stories from these championships. Thanks for reading.