Swedish cross-country skiers are dominating in Milano Cortina. Frida Karlsson has won double Olympic gold and Ebba Andersson double silver in the Winter Olympics taking place in Italy.
In the skiathlon (10 km classical + 10 km freestyle), Frida Karlsson dominated all opponents and won gold with a time of 53:45.2. Ebba Andersson followed as a solid second with a time of 54:36.2 – almost a minute behind her teammate.
Then the feat was repeated. In the 10-kilometer interval start freestyle, Karlsson triumphed again, this time with a time of 22:49.2 and a full 46 seconds ahead of Andersson, who took another silver.
"From another world," wrote the International Ski Federation FIS about Karlsson's dominant performances.
In the women's relay 4 × 7.5 kilometers, the Swedish team had to fight hard. Ebba Andersson suffered two heavy falls on the difficult course, which dropped Sweden to eighth place. But Frida Karlsson fought the team back, and anchor Jonna Sundling finished strong and lifted Sweden all the way up to relay silver behind Norway.
For Swedish cross-country skiing, the Olympic success is a triumph – and Västerbotten also has its representative there: IFK Umeå's Marcus Grate is competing for Sweden in Milano Cortina and finished 24th in the classical sprint prologue.
Swedish Championship Week is coming to Umeå March 25-29 with cross-country skiing as the main sport, and then home audiences will have the chance to cheer on the region's own skiing stars as 24 sports compete for Swedish championships.