In the women’s skiathlon at the World Championships, the murderous Norwegian winning streak was supposed to be interrupted: since 2011, girls from this country have not given gold to anyone in this discipline.

However, neither Johaug nor even Bjorgen perform in Slovenia, namely they played gold at the last 6 world championships. But now the Norwegians are so bad that even with the fall on the penultimate lap, Sweden did not give up gold.

A series of force majeure

Finns – the main experts in classical style – tried to set the pace in the first part of the skiathlon. Perhaps, only Kerttu Niskanen could seriously claim the podium in the race, but, according to the general opinion, the current level of Ebba Andersson and Frida Karlsson made it possible to call the Swedes the main favorites.

Without Teresa Johaug, the Norwegians didn’t have much to rely on, and the fans couldn’t even hope that someone would make a break in the first half of the race. Formally, the Beijing 2022 bronze medalist Teresa Stadlober from Austria could have imposed the fight, but she “caught” a gap of more than 15 seconds during the first lap.

The memorable moment of the classic part is the drama of the American Rosie Brennan. On one of the slopes, she lost her ski, and when she found it on the side of the track, she saw a broken mount. Before this force majeure, the 34-year-old skier was in the group of leaders, and after that she got 41 seconds behind.

Photo: © Maja Hitij / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

In addition to this incident, there were also falls already familiar on the track in Planica. Almost every descent promises trouble for the girls, so no one was surprised at the massive blockage that occurred at the beginning of the race.

Unexpected Gain

At the end of the classical part, unexpectedly for many, the Swedes undertook an acceleration. Their Finnish rivals Andersson and Karlsson did not support the impulse, but they did not let the tre kronor athletes run far.

Of the Norwegians, in the group of leaders at the time of the change of skis, the silver medalist of the 2019 World Championship in the skiathlon Ostberg and … Astrid-Oire Slind, a skier who generally competes in the Ski Classics marathon race series, almost never appears at the World Cup.

But this “dark horse” was the only one who could fight for the podium – 32-year-old Ostberg fell behind almost immediately after the start of the skating part, and the rest of the Norwegians lost contact with the vanguard of the race even during the second lap.

Photo: © Maja Hitij / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

Slinda impressed everyone not only with her readiness against the background of her compatriots, but also with her unusual appearance – she put on only a short racing suit for the race. Too warm weather in Slovenia forces you to adapt.

Another triumph

The Swedes, together, organized a gap, which gradually increased. The winner of this year’s Tour de Ski, Frida Karlsson, lost her free style by the end of the first lap and let Ebba go solo.

But at a time when Andersson’s lead was growing, Ebba herself became a victim of insidious descents. At the turn of one of them, the Swede fell, landing on the fifth point, and lost a lot of time to restore her pace.

At the stadium before the last lap, Andersson’s advantage over Karlsson was only 11 seconds. However, the 23-year-old blonde could not get her older teammate. At the same time, Slind did not let her go to the silver.

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Both were happy at the finish line, because for Sweden, especially after the failure in the distance races in Beijing 2022, this is a real triumph. After two starts in Planica, they have five out of six medals.

An expected and very painful failure for the Norwegian team!