Norway's Women Face Home Championship Disaster - Sweden Star's Reaction Revealed Key Insights and Petter Northug Responded

Sweden has dominated all five women’s cross-country events at the Trondheim World Championships. Ebba Andersson’s performance highlighted the competition significantly.

Ebba Andersson nearly choked on a drink during Jonna Sundling's breathtaking performance in the anchor leg.

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“Checkmate,” Norwegian skiing legend Petter Northug succinctly summarized the events of the women’s relay at the Trondheim World Championships.

Sweden's star Jonna Sundling came from 37 seconds behind in the anchor leg, delivering a phenomenal performance that secured Sweden’s championship victory with a remarkable final sprint. Norwegian anchor Kristin Fosnäs finished second in the chase.

Northug expressed bewilderment at Norway's tactical decisions leading into the final leg.

• We had a 37-second lead over Sweden. And then we were too passive during the first half of the leg. Should we have gone for gold? Should we have attacked? Or should we have played it safe? I think we were too cautious, Northug stated on Norwegian TV2.

Northug implied that Norway partially gave the victory away to Sweden.

• If Jonna Sundling can catch 20 seconds in 1.2 kilometers, then we certainly gave some of that away. I believe we should have gone for gold and opened the throttle as much as possible. Then it would have been possible to put Sundling in a tougher spot, Northug remarked.

NRK analyst Torgeir Bjørn praised Sundling’s performance, calling it one of the all-time displays. Martin Johnsrud Sundby agreed with Northug that Fosnäs should have increased the pace to challenge for Norway’s gold.

Norway’s women’s coach Sjur Ole Svarstad noted that Fosnäs couldn’t have done anything differently.

Sweden has won all five women’s cross-country events in the home World Championships: in addition to the relay, Jonna Sundling in the sprint, Ebba Andersson in the combined event and 10 kilometers (freestyle), as well as Sundling and Maja Dahlqvist in the team sprint.

For the first time since 2009, Norway has gone without a gold medal in women’s cross-country skiing. The last chance is the 50-kilometer freestyle race on Sunday. Of course, Norway features the top favorite to win, Therese Johaug, but currently, the host country faces the prospect of an unfortunate medal tally.

• This could end up being 6-0 to Sweden. This will be really tight. It’s not an easy task for Therese, Northug commented to Expressen.

Debutant Kristin Fosnäs's selection as the anchor was a major talking point even the night before the race in Norway.

• These are my first championships and they are at home. This was the relay. I just tried to do my best. I tried to fight against Jonna, but she was too strong, Fosnäs explained.

Fosnäs noted that before the race, there were discussions about how she should focus on her skiing and not worry about Sundling.

• She caught me pretty quickly. I tried to hang on. Overall, Jonna is the world champion in sprinting. I knew this was a tough task, Fosnäs recounted.

When Sundling was performing in the anchor leg, the television images captured the astonished face of the combined event and traditional 10km world champion, Ebba Andersson. She nearly choked, watching Sundling’s actions during the anchor leg.

Sundling felt energetic right away in the anchor leg.

• I knew the conditions were not easy. Joints could suffer. I tried to respect that and not start too strong. I think my pacing was good. I caught up to Fosnäs pretty quickly. Then I just rolled ahead, Sundling stated.

The Norwegian women's team, with participants like Heidi Weng and Astrid Øyre Slind, had to settle for silver medals at the World Championships.

The choice of debutant Kristin Fosnäs as the anchor was a major topic of discussion even before the relay. Photo: Getty Images

Northug noted that Norway essentially gave this victory to Sweden to some extent.

• If Jonna Sundling can catch up with 20 seconds in the span of 1.2 kilometers, then we really gave some of that away. I think we needed to try for the gold and unleash as much as possible. Then there would have been a chance to put Jonna in a more difficult situation, Northug remarked.