"I was a bit cowardly on the downhill and then a second later I did a somersault. It was a bit of a crisis and panic," Ebba Andersson told SVT.
It wasn't what I had envisioned. And of course it's incredibly sad to drag your teammates into it.
Unfortunately, I can't do that today (to make a good effort). It hurts my heart," she told SVT.
Considering what happened at the Tesero ski stadium, the Swedes had an Olympic silver to celebrate, despite being heavy pre-race favourites. Halfway through the relay, it basically looked over.
But when Jonna Sundling finally sprinted in second behind a far superior Norway, she was not immediately greeted by cheering teammates.
Because if Linn Svahn's first stage was as perfect as it was undramatic - she took the lead, just over seven seconds ahead of Italy and Norway - what happened next was a blue-yellow accident.
Lost the ski
Ebba Andersson had a nightmare day on her classic stretch and collapsed immediately afterwards.
At that time, Sweden was no better than eighth, a whopping 1 minute 18 seconds behind Norway's Astrid Øyre Slind.
First, Andersson fell in a seemingly easy left turn, and saw Slind passing by and further and further away on the horizon. But the big disaster was still ahead of her.
On a downhill run, her left ski got stuck in the muddy snow; Andersson put her free leg out in front and somersaulted, a rare sight on ski tracks. Worst of all, the binding broke and the panic in her eyes was, understandably, total.
At the stadium, a helpless Frida Karlsson watched as Andersson hopped down the hill on one leg in pursuit of a spare ski. Once the ski change was complete, the gap to Norway was already hopelessly large.
Frida Karlsson outclassed everyone in both the skiathlon and the 10-kilometer freestyle earlier during the Olympics, but taking Sweden into the gold medal race was beyond her reach.
Sundling secured silver
Karlsson shaved just under twelve seconds off Norway's lead through Karoline Simpson-Larsen, and gained even more on the other teams. When Jonna Sundling set off on the final stretch, she was over a minute behind Norwegian veteran Heidi Weng, but only ten seconds behind third-place Italy and just under 20 seconds behind second-place Finland.
Just like at the 2023 and 2025 World Championships, Sundling delivered another superb leg. She passed Italy's Federica Cassol immediately and then set off after Jasmi Joensuu.
Once Sundling was in the race, Joensuu had no chance. The Swedish sprint star lurked behind Joensuu for a while, but with a couple of kilometres to go, she made the decisive push for silver.
Saturday also marked the end of a powerful blue-yellow streak. Until Saturday, the Swedish women had won ten straight championship gold medals.
