Cross-country skiing: Jonna Sundling wins gold for Sweden
This Friday, the women’s relay was on the programme of the world cross-country skiing championships in Trondheim (Norway). Just as it looked as though Norway would win before the final relay, Jonna Sundling pulled off a fantastic comeback in the final relay to give Sweden the title in front of a Norwegian home crowd.
This remarkable performance had the Swedish press abuzz. Aftonbladet’ s headline read “Gold on the relay with Sundling’s exceptional comeback”, while SVT Sport ‘s headline read “Jonna Sundling’s incredible recovery”. Expressen ‘s headline reads “Sundling’s achievement”.
“Sundling put in one of the best performances of all time”.Torgeir Bjoern on NRK
Indeed, the situation was difficult to say the least before the final relay. With 7.5 kilometres to go, Jonna Sundling was 37 seconds behind the last Norwegian relay rider, Kristin Austgulen Fosnæs. The Swede started very strongly and the gap diminished steadily. With just under four kilometres to go, Jonna Sundling had already caught up with the 24-year-old Norwegian. In the final, the Swede used her experience and power to win the final straight ahead of the young Norwegian.
The Norwegians were bowled over by the Swede’s performance. ” Sundling put in one of the best performances of all time,” said NRK consultant Torgeir Bjoern .
In Sweden, there was no shortage of praise for the 30-year-old’s performance. ” Nobody else could have done it,” consultant Teodor Peterson told Viaplay and was quoted in Aftonbladet. Swedish national manager Anders Bystroem added : “ What an incredible achievement by Jonna “, to Viaplay. ” It’s incredibly strong from Jonna, “ enthused Swedish national coach Anders Domeij, with tears in his eyes, to Viaplay and quoted by SVT Sport.
This emotion is explained by the crazy scenario of this race. Emma Ribom, the first female relay runner, had passed the baton 36 seconds behind Norway’s Heidi Weng. Behind them, Frida Karlsson and Ebba Andersson kept pace with the Norwegians, but were unable to make up any time before Jonna Sundling began her crazy comeback.
Sweden has thus won all five gold medals on the women’s side so far at these World Championships. This gold medal is also Sweden’s second title in this event, following victory in 2019 in Seefeld (Austria).
Read also
- Cross-country skiing | Trondheim: after a stunning comeback, Sweden’s Emma Ribom, Frida Karlsson, Ebba Andersson and Jonna Sundling take gold in the World Championship relay
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- Trondheim: Sweden’s Edvin Anger and William Poromaa win relay bronze
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- Trondheim: a historic second place for Switzerland in the men’s relay at the World Championships
- Trondheim: a big hug from the Finns, unhappy after the men’s relay
- “We missed out on a lot of our objectives”: another frustrating result for Hugo Lapalus in the World Championships relay
- “We wanted to cheer up the whole group”: Rémi Bourdin and Jules Lapierre feel the pinch after the relay at the Trondheim Worlds
