Sundling-inspired Sweden make it four golds from four at Trondheim world championships

Another rainy day in Trondheim couldn’t dampen the enthusiasm of another huge crowd as the cross-country skiing at the FIS Nordic Ski World Championships continued with the Women’s Team Classic on Wednesday.

But home fans would have been disappointed as Norway finished a down in fifth, nearly a minute behind gold medallists Sweden who did at least feature Trondheim-based Maja Dahlqvist in their line-up – alongside individual sprint champion Jonna Sundling.

Weather conditions meant waxing would be crucial in providing the perfect balance between grip and glide that cross-country skiers are always trying to find, especially in the classic technique.

Whatever the circumstances, Sweden – featuring their Olympic gold-medal-winning line-up – would go in heavy favourites on a 1.4km course that each athlete would ski three times, with a changeover after each lap.

Sundling made her now-familiar fast start and was followed, perhaps surprisingly, by Jessie Diggins, who up to this point had endured a disappointing championships along with the rest of the US team. But she looked fresh after opting to sit out Tuesday’s 10K and was the only skier in touch with Sundling after lap one.

With Sweden looking increasingly dominant, a chasing group of had developed by lap two, with Finland (Jasmi Joensuu), Norway (Kristine Stavaas Skistad) and Switzerland (Nadine Faehndrich) also in the hunt for medals.

But Norway began to drop back after lap four, entering the changeover nearly 10 seconds off the lead and out of contention, leaving USA and Finland to try to work together to chase down Sweden.

On lap five, Diggins attacked Sundling on the penultimate climb, but a counter-attack from Sundling meant she handed over to Dahlqvist with a 5.4s gap. USA were just 0.9s ahead of Finland, with Switzerland another seven seconds back and seemingly out of contention.

With Sweden well clear, there was still nothing to choose between USA and Finland, but Joensuu tried to attack on the final climb only to tie up badly as she swapped tracks. This allowed USA to pull clear and Faehndrich, who claimed bronze in the individual sprint, to roar back into medal contention.

After taking the treacherous final corner carefully, Dahlqvist could afford a look over her shoulder on the home straight before crossing the finishing line (2.9s ahead of USA) where she was embraced by Sundling.

Faehndrich passed Joensuu on the final corner to claim her second bronze medal of the championship, while the exhausted Finn required medical attention after barely being able to make it across the line.

“I’m so happy,” Sundling said after claiming her second gold medal of the championships. “It was a tough one but we could ski as we wanted to and follow our plan, so it’s really nice to see Maja (Dahlqvist] at the finish line killing it.

“To celebrate, maybe our chef will make us something good to eat, maybe a cake.

For Trondheim resident Dahlqvist, victory was extra sweet. “It feels good to have a victory on ‘home’ soil and I’m super happy to have Jonna [Sundling] in my team. She made it for me today. We have four golds for Sweden at this championships so hopefully we can keep it going.”

By claiming silver, USA went one better than their bronze in Planica, Slovenia two years ago.

“It was really hard but Jessie [Diggins] put me in a really good position every lap to continue to hold our position,” Kern said. “But I also wanted to reserve a little bit for the final sprint and she did exactly that for me. I was skiing for her, our team, everybody who supported us here today. And our skis were amazing on the last climb. I even looked up and thought “maybe we can even go for gold” and I tried my best, but silver was just an incredible feeling.”

Overall World Cup leader Diggins had failed to claim a medal in the championships up to this point. She said: “I had to keep believing, I knew my fitness was there, I knew my body was there, you just need everything to come together at a championship and I think it makes it even sweeter that it did come together on a team day. It was a big test of faith and belief.”

Faehndrich, meanwhile, followed up her Team Sprint silver from 2021 with bronze in Trondheim. “It was great,” she said. “Anja was really fighting in the last lap and tried to keep up with the others. I just tried to do my best and I knew if we were close, I wanted to get the medal for us. I tried to find a good pace on not go all-out in the first uphill, and keep some energy until the finish. Then I saw coming over the top that she [Joensuu] was getting tired and I still had some energy so I just tried to fight back and I knew I could make a good last curve and a good final straight.”

The cross-country skiing at the FIS Nordic Ski World Championships continues on Thursday with the Men’s 4x7.5km Relay.

For the full results from Trondheim, click here.