Frida Karlsson’s plan was to start relaxed, and that’s how it looked until the 26-year-old was just one second ahead of Astrid Øyre Slind from Norway in the first time run at kilometer 1.8.
By the next split, however, she had increased the pace a bit and was a full 23 seconds ahead of American Jessie Diggins at half the lead.
Karlsson continued to increase the distance to those behind him. She became a winner who was in a class of her own.
– It’s just so much fun to drive at the moment. It somehow spreads over me. “It was so much fun today,” she tells HBO Max after the race.
For the participants it was a fight for the other medals, because no one else was enough for gold.
“I know the people I’m competing against are so damn good and I’ve been beaten by them multiple times, so it’s so much fun to get in shape for this, which is something I’ve been looking forward to for so long,” Karlsson tells HBO Max.
Ebba Andersson won the silver bout, three seconds ahead of Diggins in bronze. Slind finished fourth without a medal.
It was extremely loose as the women practiced on the track the day before the race. A look that Frida Karlsson likes. However, to ensure fairer conditions, organizers decided to salt the entire course before Thursday’s competition – a harder surface is something that suits Ebba Andersson.
But the sun was shining and paddock manager Anders Svanebo believed that things would get gentler as the race progressed.
But the leadership didn’t matter. Nobody dares Frida Karlsson in the form she is in now.
Moa Ilar took eleventh place and Emma Ribom took 13th place.
The text is updated.
