Super Swede Sundling spoils home party with sensational Sprint success in Trondheim

Jonna Sundling (SWE) confirmed her status as a great of modern Cross-Country Skiing with her third straight world sprint title.

The 30-year-old dominated the women’s Sprint Freestyle event from start to finish at the FIS Nordic Ski World Championships in Trondheim, Norway on Thursday.

The Olympic sprint champion qualified 6.49 seconds faster than the next-best competitor to ensure she had the pick of the draw and she took full advantage, winning her quarter-final, semi-final and the final in dominant style with some trademark front-running to add to her 2021 and 2023 world titles.

If Sundling made victory look comfortable, it was anything but, on a Trondheim course that got softer, slower and more difficult as the day progressed.

Last season's World Cup sprint champion Linn Svahn (SWE) was ruled out because of a concussion sustained in training, and Jessie Diggins (USA) and Emma Ribom (SWE) were among the big names not to make it past the quarter-finals.

Johanna Hagstroem (SWE), meanwhile, was among the victims on a tactical layout that featured a long climb out of the stadium and a sharp left-hand corner coming into a short home straight.

It was here that the Swede, a sprint winner on this season’s World Cup circuit, fell in her semi-final to miss out on a place in the final. “Jonna is so strong, it’s unbelievable,” Hagstroem said. “We’re a team so we always cheer for each other.

“It was tough not reaching the final because I felt strong. I don’t know what happened on the last corner and I’m a little bit disappointed because I was putting myself in a good position. But it’s sprinting and it’s close racing, so anything can happen. Today just wasn’t my day.”

The same couldn’t be said for Sundling who, by leading from the front, ensured she stayed out of trouble going into the treacherous turns where the snow was deeper and more cut up.

Freestyle racing clearly suits her, too, with 10 of her 11 World Cup sprint triumphs – including three this season – and her Olympic title achieved in the skating style.

The advantage appeared to be with the qualifiers from the first semi-final, and so it proved with Sundling again setting a blistering pace in the final.

Home favorite Kristine Stavaas Skistad (NOR), whose skis seemed to be gliding faster in the downhill sections, tried to stay in the Swede’s slipstream this time, having hung back in the earlier rounds, with Nadine Faehndrich (SUI) the only other skier able to keep pace.

But just as the pair seemed to be gaining ground on the final climb, Sundling found another gear, taking the lead out to five metres in the blink of an eye. This meant she could afford to slow down into the difficult final corner and concentrate on staying upright.

She crossed the line in three minutes, 3.36 seconds, 2.13s ahead of Skistad, who tied up badly but just managed to hold onto silver ahead of Faehndrich. Maja Dahlqvist (SWE) edged out Julia Kern (USA) for fourth place with Lotta Udnes Weng (NOR) a distant sixth.

“Oh, it feels amazing,” Sundling said. “This is what I’ve been training for and it’s so nice to have the shape and the skis, and just to ski as I did today.”

The Swede could barely contain her smile when asked how it felt to win the title in front of her Scandinavian neighbors: “Good!” she grinned.

Stavaas, like the 25,000 raucous local fans, looked disappointed with second place at a venue where she won the Sprint Freestyle World Cup race last season.

Faehndrich, though, the winner of five World Cup sprint races, was “very happy” with her first major individual championship medal at senior level.

“It was great, a lot of fun,” the 29-year-old said. “The final was hard but I felt good and I just tried to follow Jonna and Kristine and I’m happy that I ended up with the bronze.”

“It’s great to get a medal on the first day of the championships. I really worked hard for this and when all the hard work pays off, it’s really, really nice.”

The FIS Nordic Ski World Championships continue on Saturday 1 March with the Men’s and Women’s 20km Skiathlon races.

For the full results from Trondheim, click here.