Karlsson crushes opposition in Oslo 50k

In March 2020, Frida Karlsson surprised everyone as she sprinted past the home star Therese Johaug (NOR) to win the 30km Mass Start Classic in Oslo, Norway, claiming her career-first victory in the Coop FIS Cross-Country World Cup.

On Saturday, the Swedish 24-year-old made her second race at the Norwegian capital's iconic Holmenkollen stadium, and crushed the opposition as she won the first ever women's 50km Mass Start Classic by more than a minute's margin.

Ebba Andersson finished in second place one minute and 19 seconds behind her teammate to make it a Swedish one-two as Germany's Katharina Hennig took the last podium position.

"It was super fun," Karlsson said.

Her tactic has been to "just have some ice in my stomach, as we say in Swedish, in the first lap, and then go for it".

To "have ice in one's stomach" means to keep it calm, collected and cool, which is exactly what Karlsson did for the first 30km as a group of nine skiers stayed together in the front.

Then she switched gears and got a gap to the rest of the field – a gap that kept on growing. At the 40km mark, Karlsson was already more than a minute before the chasing pack that could not get any contact with the Swedish leader. In front of thousands of excited fans along the course a short sprint from Oslo's city centre, Karlsson tried her best to ignore any fatigue in the last fifth of the race to claim her third win this season.

Finishing one of the best races of her career, she picked up a Swedish flag to celebrate with the many blue and yellow fans along the home straight.

"I went so hard when I got the gap so the last lap I was so exhausted, but it was really fun to do the 50k," she said admitting she had been nervous before her first race in the distance.

"Yes I was (nervous), but I was also excited. (It was) super fun."

The winner was greeted by Norway's crown prince couple, Haakon and Mette-Marit.

"Congratulations, that was incredibly impressive," the crown prince told Karlsson, whose triumph makes her Swedish Cross-Country royalty.

The 10th distance win of her career puts Karlsson ahead of Charlotte Kalla (SWE) as the Swedish female Cross-Country skier with most World Cup distance victories. 

Behind Karlsson, Andersson tried with a similar move in the last 7km. The 26-year-old left the rest of the chasing group behind her and refused to get pulled back in, despite never managing to fully shake the rest off. Andersson's gap was never more than 16 seconds but she held it together and crossed the finish line 5.9 seconds before Hennig.

In Saturday's most dramatic finish, the German had made sure to stay in the slip stream of Austria's Teresa Stadlober for the last 800m of the race. In the final sprint the Olympic team sprint gold medallist edged past the Austrian to claim her third distance podium this season by a margin of 0.2 second.

"We had very good skis and I'm very happy," said Hennig, who was "surprised" about her impressive third place in the debutant event.

"It was a great experience. It was hard work and a long race and I'm very surprised about my race today."

While in the top-three positions, Karlsson, Andersson and Jonna Sundling (SWE) were seen talking to each other during the race, discussing whether they would switch skis. Hennig and her teammate Victoria Carl had also tried to support each other during the race.

"The goal was to do a little teamwork together and to push as hard as possible. That was the plan and we did it," Hennig said.

The German 27-year-old confessed that even though she had enjoyed the race, the distance that is about 8km further than a marathon, is not something she would like to do more often.

"It was a very hard experience," Hennig summarised it.

"I think I will do one more but I think there are better things to do in life."

Finland's distance specialist Kerttu Niskanen took the fifth place almost 8 seconds behind Stadlober, as Sundling made it three Swedes in the top-six.

No.7 Astrid Oeyre Slind became the best home skier as she crossed the line 1:36.4 behind the winner as Johanna Matintalo (FIN) finished in eighth place. Carl, in ninth place with a time of 1:57.5, became the last skier within two minutes behind Karlsson, with a gap of more than two minutes down to No.10 Krista Parmakovski (FIN).

The overall World Cup leader Jessie Diggins (USA) and runner-up Linn Svahn (SWE) finished in 11th and 12th place, making the standings, where Karlsson is third, unchanged.

The women's World Cup continues with city sprints in Drammen, Norway, on Tuesday. But before that, the men will battle for the podium positions in the 50km Mass Start Classic on Sunday.

Click here for full results from the women's 50km Mass Start Classic.

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