"I was really nervous. I felt like I was going to throw up at the start. It was even worse than in the downhill," Årsjö tells SVT.
It wasn't a flawless first run for Årsjö, but it was good enough to take the lead as the second skier on the slope, more than two seconds ahead of Frenchwoman Aurélie Richard.
The Swede believes her nervousness helped her.
"I think it paid off. Because I was really focused. It went well, but it was really close in some places. I got stuck with the pole guard in some places," says the 25-year-old and continues:
"I wasn't completely exhausted when I came down, so there's a little more to give."
Årsjö has won gold in downhill and combined as well as a bronze in super-G so far in Italy.
Russian Varvara Vorontjichina - who took gold in the super-G, but crashed out of the combined - is 1.47 seconds behind leader Årsjö and is second going into the second run. Richard is third (+2.08).
"There's one more race left and I was on the edge in some places. I just have to keep it together. Tie the knot as we say in Sweden," says Årsjö.
The second run starts just after 12:30.
