Cross-country skiing: Frida Karlsson imperious
After a day of rest, cross-country skiing was back in action this Thursday at the Milan/Cortina 2026 Games, with the women’s 10-kilometre individual skate on the programme. On the Tesero track (Italy), 111 women took part. And, once again at these Games, the usual scenario was repeated: another demonstration by the Swedes.
Already ultra-dominant in the skiathlon, Frida Karlsson was once again imperious. Turning green from the first intermediate, she completed the first lap of the circuit almost six seconds ahead of her nearest rival.
In the second loop, she took off, opened up a decisive gap and won the event by a large margin, 46.6 seconds ahead of her compatriot Ebba Andersson. This was the 26-year-old cross-country skier’ s second Olympic title after the skiathlon, and her third Olympic medal after bronze in the relay in Beijing (China).
“At the finish, I was out of breath. But I felt like I was being carried along by the crowd. It’s a real joy to be skiing at the moment. I’m bursting with energy. On the last climb, I was really hungry for victory. I’d set some good times and I told myself that I was going to draw on my last bit of strength. It worked out incredibly well,” said Frida Karlsson on Eurosport.
The real battle was for second place and, once again, it was Sweden’s Ebba Andersson who took the silver medal after winning the skiathlon. Jessie Diggins, despite suffering from sore ribs since her fall in the skiathlon, fought hard to win bronze, her third Olympic medal and her second in an individual event.
Behind them, the Norwegians were just off the podium. Astrid Oeyre Slind was fourth, just 3.3 seconds off the podium. Heidi Weng was fifth, ahead of Karoline Simpson-Larsen in sixth. Austria’s Teresa Stadlober took seventh place, ahead of 20-year-old Canadian Alison Mackie in eighth, while Norway’s Kristin Austgulen Fosnæs finished ninth.
Léonie Perry’s first top 10 at the Olympic Games
After a fine skiathlon that finished in a solid sixteenth place, Léonie Perry from the Vosges put in a fine performance in the individual skate event, which she had been looking forward to so much after finishing sixth in the World Cup in Davos (Switzerland).
The Bressaude rode a very consistent race to take a fine tenth place, making her the seventh Frenchwoman to score a top 10 finish at the Olympic Games.
Further back, Delphine Claudel from the Vosges finished in twenty-second place. Julie Pierrel from Bornand was thirty-sixth and Mélissa Gal fifty-first.
Full results
CCSW10KMIS-FNL-000100-__C73A_1.0Read also
- Before the women’s individual skate, the organisers decided to salt the Tesero track.
- The start list for the individual women’s 10 km skate race
- A demonstration by Johannes Hoesflot Klæbo, Olympic classic sprint champion
- Who are the most serious rivals for the French sprinters?
- Classic sprint: the quarter-final of death for Jules Chappaz
- Jules Chappaz third in the classic sprint qualifier, Lucas Chanavat, Richard Jouve and Théo Schely join him in the finals
- Mélissa Gal and Julie Pierrel pass the classic sprint qualifier with flying colours, with the Swedes in front.
- When Italy’s Nicole Monsorno forgets to choose her quarter-final…
- Two South Korean cross-country skiers disqualified for having fluoride on their skis
- “I didn’t have any energy”, “I was a little short of it”: the disappointment of Justine Gaillard and Clémence Didierlaurent, who went out in the qualifying round of the classic sprint.
- The start lists for the classic sprint qualifiers
- “I’m confident and I feel ready”: Jules Chappaz, who was ill last week, is reassured ahead of the classic sprint
- After the disappointment of the skiathlon, Federico Pellegrino wants to get back on track in the classic sprint: “I’m going to give it my all”.
- Mathis Desloges talks to Nordic Magazine after his historic silver medal in the skiathlon: “I’m the one wearing the medal, but we’re all entitled to it”.
- “One hell of a strong race”: Victor Lovera, 15th in the skiathlon, looks back on his first appearance at the Games for Nordic Magazine.
- “It’s just crazy”: the emotion of Mathis Desloges in silver in the skiathlon
- “Completely smashed”: Mathis Desloges’s silver medal was not able to withstand the emotion
- “I didn’t manage to get the finish I wanted”: the frustration of Cluse Hugo Lapalus, fifth in the Olympic skiathlon
- Emmanuel Macron congratulates Mathis Desloges
- 15 minutes before his silver medal, the moment when Mathis Desloges could have lost everything in the skiathlon
- Mathis Desloges becomes France’s second individual Olympic medallist, the first in distance
- Mathis Desloges wins a splendid silver medal in the skiathlon, a triumph for Johannes Hoesflot Klæbo
- “It’s the event I’ve marked off”: Mathis Desloges wants to make a big impact in the Olympic skiathlon
- The start list for the men’s skiathlon… with four Tricolores
- A complicated skiathlon for Delphine Claudel, 31st: “I didn’t have the weapons”.
- “It really gives me confidence for the 10 km skate”: sixteenth in the skiathlon, Léonie Perry looks back on her race for Nordic Magazine
- “It was great”, “I enjoyed myself”: a positive first Olympic Games for Julie Pierrel and Cloé Pagnier
- Switzerland dazzled by Nadja Kaelin’s fourth place in the skiathlon
- “There are still bits of it lying around in the snow”: the misadventure of Ebba Andersson, second in the skiathlon, with her medal
- “It’s incredible”: Heidi Weng wins Olympic medal again, twelve years later
- Imperial Frida Karlsson triumphs in the skiathlon, Léonie Perry sixteenth
- “I felt like a machine,” said Olympic skiathlon champion Frida Karlsson.
- Jessie Diggins misses her skiathlon after a fall
- Lapped during the skiathlon, Yelizaveta Nopriienko is a deaf athlete and triple gold medallist at the Deaflympics.
- The start list for the women’s skiathlon… with four French women lining up
- Change of skis and style… The skiathlon format explained
- “The plan was to add a bit of fun to the ceremony and have a laugh”: Jules Lapierre explains his fall during the opening ceremony
- 2026 Olympics: the full programme for cross-country skiing at the Milan/Cortina 2026 Olympics
- Tesero Cross-Country Skiing Stadium: everything you need to know about the Val di Fiemme stadium, which will host the cross-country skiing events at the Milan/Cortina 2026 Olympic Games.
- The French team selection for the Milan/Cortina 2026 Olympic Games
- The CNOSF reveals the first list of Frenchmen selected for the 2026 Olympic Games in Milan/Cortina
- “We favour athletes who are capable of going out and winning medals”: Olivier Michaud looks back at France’s selection for the Milan/Cortina 2026 Olympic Games
- The reactions of Léonie Perry and Julie Pierrel, selected for the Olympic Games for the first time: “An incredible experience” and “Truly incredible”.
- Milan/Cortina 2026 Olympics: two extra quotas for the French team
- Milan/Cortina 2026 Olympics: Cloé Pagnier, Clémence Didierlaurent, Justine Gaillard and Victor Lovera complete the French squad
- “I’m very proud”: freshly selected for his first Olympic Games, Victor Lovera talks to Nordic Magazine
- “A dream”, “Looking forward to this crazy experience”, “A source of pride”: reactions from Clémence Didierlaurent, Cloé Pagnier and Justine Gaillard, selected for their first Olympic Games.
- Pierre Mignerey, FFS National Technical Director, outlines the French team’s ambitions for the 2026 Olympics: “The aim is to come back from the Games with medals”.
- Ill, Jules Chappaz won’t arrive in Italy until Saturday
