Thursday's 10-kilometer freestyle is perhaps the only Olympic distance on the women's side that didn't have a clear Swedish gold favorite in advance. Until last Saturday, that is.
After Frida Karlsson's crushing skiathlon victory - in the freestyle section she was a full 45 seconds ahead of the second-fastest in that section (Heidi Weng) - national team manager Anders Byström can talk as much as he wants about American Jessie Diggins being the favorite. No one believes him.
"Maybe it's a little more open now," Byström says with a sly smile.
Fastest ever?
Swedish women's coach Stefan Thomson says that Karlsson's performance in the skiathlon was among the most impressive he has seen.
"The question is whether it's the fastest thing a female cross-country skier has ever done," Thomson says.
The Swedish women's national team has dominated international cross-country competitions for a few years now. But perhaps never like this.
Enough so that Sweden won all six women's gold medals at the World Championships in Trondheim last year. But the Olympics in Val di Fiemme have actually started even better, with two new Swedish gold medals - Karlsson in skiathlon and Linn Svahn in sprint - and a whopping five medals.
Add Ebba Andersson's 30-kilometer victory at the World Championships in Planica 2023 and Sweden's women have captured the last nine championship gold medals.
Everyone in shape at the same time
It is not impossible that there will be six new gold medals at the Olympics.
"It's not certain that you'll get to experience this again, that we have so many world stars at the same time," says Stefan Thomson.
"Now we all have top-notch skiers and that's just really hard to achieve. I don't think we've ever had that. There's always someone who has a problem. So it's pretty strong. Whoever we put in, there are potential medal chances."
The Val di Fiemme Olympics are already a measure of revenge for Beijing 2022. There, Sweden had four long-distance medals and only one gold (Jonna Sundling, sprint). Now Sweden has five, of which two are gold.
"I was pretty confident that it would go better than in Beijing because a lot of things didn't go right there. But to get this start is, of course, really nice. And we have a lot of good chances left," says Anders Byström.
Lasse Mannheimer/TT
Facts: Remaining long-distance program at the Olympics
TT
February 12: 10 kilometers (freestyle), women.
February 13: 10 kilometers (freestyle), men.
February 14: Relay, women.
February 15: Relay, men.
February 18: Sprint relay (freestyle), women and men.
February 21: 50 kilometers (classic), men.
February 22: 50 kilometers (classic), women.
