TESERO, Italy — Sweden produced a 1-2-3 finish in the women’s sprint classic as the Scandinavian nation continued their domination of cross-country skiing.
Linn Svahn won a dominant gold ahead of team-mates Jonna Sundling and Maja Dahlqvist, ensuring Sweden have now won five of the six women’s medals on offer.
Svahn’s first Olympic medal, having missed Beijing with injury, the 26-year-old was also injured for the majority of last season after suffering a severe concussion and neck trauma in a heavy crash. She only returned to competition in December after 10 months out.
Elsewhere, Jessie Diggins was knocked out in the quarter-finals after finishing fourth in a highly competitive heat.
This was always going to be one of Diggins’ weaker events, despite her bronze medal in Beijing four years ago. Though the 34-year-old leads the overall World Cup standings, she sits only sixth in sprint, and has openly acknowledged that she feels her strengths now lie in longer distances.
She also bruised her ribs after falling in Saturday’s skiathlon, telling NBC that it was affecting her breathing. Diggins next races in the Women’s 10km free on Thursday.
However, 28-year-old Julia Kern produced a string of surprise knockout performances to reach the final, having only finished 26th in qualification. Though she finished an exhausted sixth in the final, this was still the performance of the Californian’s career.
The final was set up as a battle between the three Swedish athletes: defending champion Sundling, World Cup sprint leader Dahlqvist, and qualification winner Svahn.
This trio quickly separated themselves from the field, with Svahn slowly increasing her lead over Sunding on the final decisive hill, and able to coast through the final metres to win by two seconds.
It was the first time that Sweden’s women have ever swept the medals in an Olympic cross-country event.
“Previous championships have not gone my way and the fact that I am able to get this gold that I have worked for for so long is a great story,” she told Swedish television channel SVT.
“To finally be able to finish at an Olympics and have two teammates on the podium… Sports are great when you succeed with achievements, but it’s even better when you succeed together.”