The accident occurred on the second of four stages of the women’s cross-country skiing relay. Ebba Andersson fell on the last descent and destroyed her right ski during the subsequent jump forward.
– It’s a nightmare. You suffer for her, but she does her best and yes, what more could you want? says men’s coach Lars Ljung, who was positioned along the route in the next so-called trainer zone.
He himself did not see the fall, there were no television screens where he stood, but he immediately understood that something had happened. At the same time that Ebba Andersson was coming towards him on a ski, Ljung was running towards her as fast as he could with a new whole ski.
– It was a pretty good run from Lars, he did pretty damn well. We had a short ride on the radio during which we shouted: “Now you have to run, Lars, as far as you can towards the curve.” So I think he kept a good kilometer time there, said women’s coach Stefan Thomson, commenting on the performance of his leading colleague.
Ljung himself says that he was obviously feeling a rush of adrenaline, but was still trying to remain as composed as possible in the situation.
– But there were skiers in the way and it feels a bit unfun to run in full career and run a slalom between lots of skiers. It could have ended badly, but thank God it turned out well.
– You can’t help her either, she has to put on the skis herself, so there are so many things that you have time to deal with a little.
He arrived at Ebba Andersson stressed. He dropped the ski and removed his hands. They didn’t say anything, but only communicated with looks as the 28-year-old managed to put on his new skis and move on to the equipment. He says he tried to yell at her to calm down and ride along as best she could.
Reporter: How difficult or easy is it to remove the binding from the ski?
– Way too easy, demonstrably. They are not drilled or glued, but simply put on. And it’s flexible and well, it’s easy to assemble, but they fit a little worse.
She tried putting it on herself, but was it so broken that it wouldn’t work, or was she too stressed?
– I think it was too broken. I won’t swear it, I’m not a materialist, but I believe it.
Ljung says so He thought of Lars Nelson, the first man in the men’s relay at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Nelson also lost his ski, but this time the ski was intact and he was able to race, and Sweden won the gold medal.
Now the leaders realized that Norway’s lead was too big and there was a change in the fight for the other medals.
– At first you’re just shocked. What absolutely shouldn’t have happened happened. The first thought is: “Does gold even have a chance?” “Then I still think that I quickly change my mind that we just have to train them now to definitely win a medal so that we don’t miss out too,” says national team manager Anders Byström.
The message to Frida Karlsson and Jonna Andersson shouldn’t have too much stress.
When Karlsson took over on the third leg, the gap to the silver medal was 55 seconds. She shortened the gap to Silver to 18 seconds so Sundling could catch up.
“We were here to get gold, but after what happened, I still think it’s important that we’re here with silver,” says Thomson, explaining that it’s now important to support Ebba Andersson:
– We are a team when we enter the relay and we must also be a team when we leave the relay. We do it together.
Read more:
Olympic silver goes to Sweden in the relay – after a forward somersault and a broken ski
