Sweden lacked star names like Jonna Sundling and Linn Svahn when the World Cup began with a sprint in Ruka. Still, it turned double blue-yellow at the top of the podium in the Finnish 13-degree winter cold.
The biggest Swedish jumper for the day, Maja Dahlqvist, took the chance and demonstrated together with Johanna Hagström and Frida Karlsson for the ski world, which is the world’s best women’s national team in sprint.
The final had the same end as the initial semifinal, namely a sprint agreement between Dahlqvist and Hagström, from which the former won by a margin of 1.77 seconds.
– It could not have started better. A perfect start, says Maja Dahlqvist about the outcome of the season’s first international competition in the victory interview in Viaplay’s broadcast.
– I am very happy. I was in great shape and had very good skis.
Also Frida Karlsson, who normally has his strength in distance running, had a very strong road to the final and won both the quarterfinals and the semifinals before strong opponents such as Maiken Caspersen Falla and the qualifier’s fastest skier Jessie Diggins.
Once in the final, however, she had nothing to do with the battle for the lead and finished sixth.
– I felt so heavenly strong today so now I am quite disappointed actually, says Frida Karlsson to Viaplay and develops what went wrong in the final:
– When we turned, I got my own track and it felt like someone put glue in it. It went really hard and then I got a gap up to the others after the uphill. It was a tactical miss that I went on in the final, it was a shame because I felt I had a nimble body today.
For Maja Dahlqvist was victory her second individual triumph in the World Cup. She took the first one in Ulricehamn last season. The question is whether her preparations and external conditions have ever been better in the past:
– I longed for the uphill and it has probably never happened to me before, the 27-year-old continues in the victory interview and develops when she stops at Viaplay:
– I did not think it would go so well. This is the first time I feel that I can go on the run without sprinting all I have. I normally always expose myself to a max sprint, but it was great not to have to do that.
Maja Dahlqvist can be proud with, among other things, won two World Cup gold medals in team sprint, but individually she has one history with some incidents which destroyed previous achievements. It did not go much better in the national premiere in Gällivare last week when she fell on her own and at the same time took Moa Lundgren with her in the case – but despite that she states that she has never been in better shape before.
– I felt in Gällivare that it felt very good, but then I was washed so there was no good result. But I still felt like I’m better than ever at the sprint right now.
Second place winner Johanna Hagström was of course satisfied with her effort overall, which meant her third podium place in the World Cup, but with a little fluency it could have ended differently, she points out.
– Super cool. I’m a little disappointed that I did not get to turn my back on Maja downhill because I lost a lot on it. Otherwise I could have challenged her more, but I feel stronger and stronger for each race, she tells Viaplay.
For the Swedish men, the hopes of reaching the final went nowhere when Marcus Grate and Anton Persson tangled in each other and fell on their own grip in the semifinals.
Read more:
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Maja Dahlqvist on Swedish crashes: “You get anxiety, everyone wants to win”
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