“I would like to see no one more than Linn for a gold medal.”

Linn Svahn won 14 sprint races in the World Cup, Jonna Sundling 13. But as Sundling won medals at championships – including four straight gold medals in sprints – Linn Svahn missed one championship after another.

The bad luck started on February 6, 2021 in Ulricehamn. A fall and an injured shoulder were the beginning of a long train journey. Not only was she unable to do justice to herself at the World Cup this winter, but she also missed the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2022. The World Cup in Planica in 2023 ended well with two fourth places.

The World Cup in Trondheim last winter was supposed to be a welcome comeback. Then she fell on an ice rink the day before the start of the championship and the concussion she suffered still affects her to this day.

– We missed her and it’s great that she’s back and I really wish her this win. “It just feels great that we…now we feel like a whole team,” says Jonna Sundling.

National team manager Anders Byström I hope Linn Svahn is proud and sheds a tear of joy. He suffered with his star.

– We’ve been sitting here for most of the last week and just “nothing can happen to Linn now”. And luckily that’s not the case, but on the last hill you thought, “Just stand on your feet now,” and she did. So valuable.

Byström would also like to pay tribute to Sundling, who defeated many competitors on the way to the final, and Dahlqvist, who reached the second semi-final and took a short break before the showdown. But on a day like this, Svahn’s heart beats a little harder.

He had to hug the gold medalist and say, “You, there’s no one who deserves this more than you.”

The final was as I said a blue and yellow story. Sundling was the one who took the baton, but on the first descent Svahn caught up.

“There were a lot of spruce branches and I took the safe one before the unsafe one and then Linn was able to slip past there, but I don’t think it really made a big difference in my race,” she says of the day’s stronger teammate.

Maja Dahlqvist kept the Norwegians behind her and secured her bronze medal.

– I couldn’t have done anything more and Linn and Jonna were a little better. So I feel like we won as a team and I won bronze.

– I don’t normally judge who to give a medal to or who deserves a medal, but I don’t see anyone giving a gold medal to better than Linn.

Dahlqvist hopes that she herself would have been able to fight in Svahn’s position – she is impressed by her teammate’s mentality.

– We were on the journey, saw all her setbacks, how many competitions she had to skip and watch on TV at home instead. There were so many ups and downs and she was overjoyed to first be here to compete and then win – it’s magical.

Not since the Olympics In St. Moritz 1948, Sweden won all three medals in an Olympic cross-country skiing race. Over 18 kilometers, Martin Lundström took gold, Nils Östensson silver and Gunnar Eriksson bronze.

“Magical,” says Maja Dahlqvist about the opportunity to share the podium with Linn Svahn and Jonna Sundling.

– We know we have succeeded, but so much still needs to be done to make it truly successful. It’s hard to understand that it’s true.

Sundling says the joy comes with a great deal of relief. There can be a lot of excitement before a World Cup race, but it’s even bigger at the Olympic Games.

“Well, people are talking about that,” she says, pointing to the Swedish journalist corps and laughing. It took a lot of thinking about it.

– I am very happy and it is particularly fun that we can share the podium, me, Linn and Maja.

Read more:

Swedish Sprint Festival – won gold, silver and bronze: “Beautiful story”

Johan Esk: As long as there is no cliff on the other side of Linn Svahn’s Olympic success