Therese Johaug lost in an unusual World Championship gold battle – Krista Pärmäkoski’s icy response to Norwegians

In the World Championships in Trondheim, Therese Johaug ended up with a silver medal, even though there was plenty of drama with her competitors. Sweden’s Ebba Andersson clinched gold after an intense sprint to the finish, with the championship decided by a photo finish.

• "This type of scenario is rarely seen, where enduring athletes face off in a final sprint. These two women excel in endurance, and they seldom compete in such close finishes," noted Kalle Lassila, an analyst for Yle Urheilu, during the commentary.

World Champion Ebba Andersson described her feeling of triumph as incredible.

• "I felt exhausted in the classical style, but found new strength in freestyle. I had such good skis. I thought I wouldn’t raise my back at all," Andersson explained to Yle after the race.

Andersson celebrated her fourth World Championship gold, including relays. Photo: Markku Ulander / Lehtikuva.

Johaug commented to Yle that the race was indeed tough and that she was pleased with her skiing, noting that it was a good starting point for her competitions continues.

Before the last lap, it seemed like sprint powerhouse Jonna Sundling would be the favorite to win in the final rush. Johaug, Andersson, Heidi Weng, and Sundling were leading the pack.

Sundling, however, fell in the final curve of the stadium and dropped out of the lead battle. Weng also fell in that scramble.

• "This can certainly be regarded as a careless mistake from Sundling. It shouldn’t have happened," Lassila evaluated.

Later, Lassila speculated whether Sundling was perhaps a bit too relaxed heading into the turn.

Andersson had a succinct view on what might have happened had Sundling and Weng stayed upright till the end.

• "It would have been much tougher to come out on top if they had remained upright," Andersson summarized.

Earlier, Norwegian star Astrid Öyre Slind had fallen out of the medal contention after losing her skate ski in the changing zone.

Her timing for switching skis was unfortunate, forcing her to fall behind the leading pack.

• "That is a terrible situation for an athlete. Slind could no longer keep up with the leading crew's speed. After such an incident, it’s difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of the skate skis," Lassila remarked.

Response from Pärmäkoski

Finland’s best performer was Krista Pärmäkoski, who finished seventh. A talked-about topic during the race was the salted tracks. Salt was used to harden the tracks due to the heavy rain conditions, making them very slippery.

Pärmäkoski expressed a clear opinion towards the judges' decision to salt the tracks during an interview with Yle.

• "I told the team this morning that now it has ruined Therese's day by salting the tracks. She certainly didn’t wish for it. I predicted Jonna would win, but she was involved in that crash. It could be that there’s no salting on Tuesday," Pärmäkoski commented on the Norwegian stars at their home competition.

Pärmäkoski felt that a tougher weather would have suited her as well.

• "By the third lap, I lost my grip. That caused me to fall significantly behind on the uphill. It’s frustrating because it was about that," she noted.

• "It’s hard to say if I would have been able to keep pace with the leading pack. They were skiing hard, and there were some solid sprinters in that group. No use speculating. The final position could have been the same. This was today’s result."

Finnish athletes also had their share of unusual moments during the competition, with Vilma Ryytty accidentally heading in the wrong direction in the stadium mid-race.

• "I don’t know what happened. I got lost in my thoughts and went towards the classical route. Fortunately, I didn’t go too far down it. I just had this feeling that I was in the wrong place. I noticed my teammates were going a different way," Ryytty recounted her mishap.

Additionally, Jasmin Kähärä nearly skied past her designated spot during the ski change.

Finnish women's head coach Ville Maunuksela viewed Pärmäkoski’s performance as a standard pull.

• "We knew there were really strong competitors for the win. It’s a very hard and magnificent race. Krista simply didn’t have enough energy to stay in the medal contention."

Maunuksela noted that Finnish women’s results were about what they had anticipated. On Saturday, Finnish men faced challenges with their classical ski equipment, but according to Maunuksela, the skis showed competitive readiness this time.

Definitely, Maunuksela didn’t comment on Pärmäkoski’s remarks concerning grip waxes.

The individual competition served as another opportunity for the relay race. Maunuksela expressed that Finland has three solid contenders for the relay: Jasmi Joensuu, Kerttu Niskanen, and Krista Pärmäkoski.

This time at the World Championships, women will race relay legs of 7.5 kilometers for the first time, adding their flavor to the relay.

• "Last season, there were great differences between teams during the 7.5-kilometer legs. The coaching needs to calculate, with which quartet and in what order we achieve the best overall time," Maunuksela remarked, highlighting the expectation of not involving in battles during the longer ski segments.

Results of the Ski Event:

7. Krista Pärmäkoski (Finland) | Finish not specified 1. Ebba Andersson (Sweden) | First place gold medal 2. Therese Johaug (Norway) | Second place silver medal 3. Heidi Weng (Norway) | Finish not specified 4. Jonna Sundling (Sweden) | Finish not specified 5. Astrid Öyre Slind (Norway) | Finish not specified

This was a fitting display of Finnish skiing strengths among the competition!

Note: Results are for storytelling purposes.