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By Gavin Kentch
LAGO DI TESERO — Those plucky underdogs from Norway came out on top in a relay for once.
Seriously, though, today’s race went from a Swedish coronation to a Swedish nightmare to Swedish redemption, all within the course of four drama-filled laps. Ebba Andersson fell hard on leg two, twice, with her ski breaking and coming completely off the second time, instantly shattering dreams of the runaway Swedish victory that many had anticipated. She scootered along on just one ski for agonizing seconds — it felt like minutes in real time, all the while with leg-three skier Frida Karlsson standing in the exchange zone looking stricken — before a coach was finally able to get her a replacement. Andersson handed off to Karlsson in eighth, 1:18 back of Norway and 52.9 seconds out of the medals.
Spoiler alert, Frida Karlsson is very good at skate skiing. She pulled Sweden up to fourth by the end of her leg, just 18.5 seconds behind Finland in second. Anchor leg Jonna Sundling caught Jasmi Joensuu before long, sat behind her for a bit, and then surgically skied away. Norway gold, Sweden silver, Finland bronze.
The U.S. finished fifth, 1:52 back of Norway and :37 off the podium, after skiing between fifth and seventh for most of the race. Diggins took the handoff, for the fourteenth and final international anchor leg of her career, in sixth, 24.6 seconds back of Sweden. She caught a quickly fading Italy before too long, and skied with Germany for some time, but was ultimately able to do no more than that. Germany finished fourth, 1:36 back, with the U.S. sixteen seconds further back.
“I just was thinking, like, you just never know, and trying to go out really hard and see what I could do,” Diggins said afterwards of her experience on the anchor leg. “It wasn’t quite enough, but at the same time, you just gotta go out believing and giving yourself the best chance for your team. And every single one of these girls went out and skied their heart out, and so I wanted to go do the same thing.”
Full race writeup to follow. For the time being, here is full audio from today’s podium press conference. Skip a minute or two into it to get to the questions.
I have also copy and pasted some highlights here. All text is courtesy of OIS, Olympic Information Services. Strictly speaking the quotes come from OIS reporters speaking with these athletes in the mixed zone; there will be different content in the press conference embedded above.
Kristin Austgulen Fosnæs (NOR) – gold
On getting the team off to a good start:
“It was a really hard first lap. I tried not to give them the biggest gap but I knew the girls behind me were really strong.”
Astrid Øyre Slind (NOR) – gold
On whether she was aware of the drama happening on the second leg, when rival and eventual silver medallist Ebba Andersson fell twice:
“I actually didn’t realise there was so much drama. They were just ahead of us, but I wasn’t paying much attention. I could see we had a really good gap, so we hoped for the gold already. We are so proud.”
Karoline Simpson-Larsen (NOR) – gold
On playing it safe to ensure the gold medal:
“I was so nervous before my start. Astrid gave me a good start, so I just had to give my all out there.”
Heidi Weng (NOR) – gold
On all four skiers winning their first Olympic gold medal:
“Karoline said to me ‘Go, go, go Heidi, you can do it’. So I just tried to stay on my feet so I was safe. I felt really strong, I had really good skis and it was so fun to race with this team and have the gold medal. It was amazing for us.”
Linn Svahn (SWE) – silver
On the silver medal:
“I’m the proudest. It’s the best team. To have your best friends in the team, if it’s an up, a down, a silver medal, a gold, we share everything together. I’m really proud of everyone.”
Ebba Andersson (SWE) – silver
On falling twice in the second leg:
“It’s not memories that I want to remember. It was a tough day for me and unfortunately, that made it a tough day for the team. But we share victories and also when it’s not going that well. Today was one of those days.”
Frida Karlsson (SWE) – silver
On bringing Sweden from eighth to fourth in the third leg:
“I thought, ‘now it’s just about going with what I have and giving my all for the team’. As the competition went on, we fought back and won the silver medal.”
Jonna Sundling (SWE) – silver
On bringing Sweden to second in the last leg:
“I was just trying to ski as good as I could and not go out too fast, just finding the right speed and doing my best. It felt good and I’m proud of the team and how it ended.”
Johanna Matintalo (FIN) – bronze
On the first leg:
”It was really tough and also surprising, because no one had the chance to ski the course before the race. So it was surprising to see what the conditions were, with the downhills and everything.
“It was pretty soft conditions and I just tried not to fall and lose time with that, doing some steady skiing for the team.”
Kerttu Niskanen (FIN) – bronze
On whether she noticed Ebba Andersson falling twice in the second leg:
“I saw a little bit but not too much. It was a really hard race in really hard conditions. There was a drama with the Swedish team, but I tried to do my best.”
Vilma Ryytty (FIN) – bronze
On the course in the third leg – the first leg in freestyle technique:
“The skate (freestyle) track was good, because no one had skied there before.”
Jasmi Joensuu (FIN) – bronze
On bringing Finland to the bronze medal in the last leg:
“It’s a great feeling. We’ve been fourth as a team many times, and I’ve lost in the last 100m many times, so today I wanted to make sure we don’t need to battle for that.
“I’m really happy for the team, that they were able to make such a big gap that I was able to ski my own race too.”
Again, come back within the evening for a full race writeup. We were able to catch up with all four Americans who raced today, and have thoughts from them all.
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