There was a Swedish-Norwegian showdown in the women's cross-country World Cup sprint in Drammen.
In the end it was clear the fight and the victory were between Sundling and Skistad. They raced side by side for a long time, but the closer they got to the finish line, the stronger Sundling looked. She won by 0.77 seconds ahead of Skistad.
“It felt really even; then I got a few centimeters and I was just, 'That's good.' Then you get some energy from it,” Sundling tells Viaplay.
“Impressed”
She was beaten by Skistad in both the quarterfinals and semifinals. But when it really mattered, the Swede was the sharpest.
“I'm a little impressed with myself. Kristine is really awesome at this race. In the final I really got it right,” says Sundling.
Linn Svahn was the one who impressed the most initially. The Swedish Olympic gold medalist was fastest in qualifying and then won the quarter-finals with a powerful sprint, after previously being involved in a mass crash.
But in the semifinals, the fun ended for Svahn. Her heat was a tactical race at a slow pace until the finish. It cost Svahn a place in the final. She only came third in the heat, behind Skistad and Sundling. Svahn's time was far too slow to have a chance of advancing as a "lucky loser".
Swedish protest
After the competitions, Svahn said that Sweden planned to submit a protest against Skistad's obstruction of her.
“I think Skistad went too hard on me toward the finish line and took my place. We will file a protest, but it doesn't matter anyway,” Svahn tells Viaplay.
“I think I was strong today. I think it would have felt like a shame if it had ended in the quarterfinals, but now it ended in the semifinals anyway. A special day.”
For Jonna Sundling it was her second straight sprint victory in the World Cup, after also winning in Lahti five days earlier.
Johanna Hagström, the other Swede in the final, finished fourth and was almost a second and a half behind Swiss third-place Nadine Fähndrich.
