"It means a lot. Unlike Jonna, I haven't won an Olympic gold medal before, so it was very much anticipated and it tastes very good," Dahlqvist tells HBO Max.
The gold at the Tesero ski stadium in Val di Fiemme was Sweden's sixth overall during the Olympics in Milan and Cortina. And the fourth that the Swedish women's cross-country skiers won.
It was immediately noticeable that Jonna Sundling in particular was hungry for revenge for what had happened earlier during the Olympics.
The 31-year-old had to settle for silver in both the individual sprint, behind Linn Svahn, and in the relay, after Ebba Andersson crashed dangerously and lost her ski.
Already in the qualifying round, the blue and yellow duo put on a show of power. The only thing that stood out more during the qualifying round was a dog with wolf-like features that ran loose on the course and caused quite a commotion.
Replaced Svahn
In the final, the Swedish show continued. Already in the third leg, Sundling's second, Sweden put such a gap on the other countries that no one could really keep up.
"We felt it on the second stage, when they weren't behind me as I sent Jonna out on the last, that it was really exciting. When I saw Jonna on the last hill, I thought I might be speechless, and we could still win," Dahlqvist says.
And after Sundling took everything she had left on the penultimate stretch of the final, the Swedish team led by almost nine seconds over second-place Finland.
Dahlqvist didn't miss that opportunity.
"We know we are the favorites going in, but it still takes a lot to get them to match up so well. So it's great fun," she says.
Dahlqvist, who took bronze in the individual sprint, instead showed that she is "the world's best reserve." Linn Svahn was originally supposed to run the sprint relay but fell ill, and Dahlqvist was the obvious replacement.
Medal in every Olympic race
By the way, there's no complaining about Dahlqvist's Olympic statistics. In five starts, she has five medals. And after taking two silver and one bronze in Beijing 2022, she now topped off her Olympic career with a gold.
"It's absolutely magical. I can't imagine a better ending than this," says Dahlqvist, who says the race could be the last Olympic race of her career.
Jonna Sundling now has six Olympic medals in her career, two of which are gold.
For Sundling/Dahlqvist as a duo, the victory also meant redemption for what happened four years ago. The blue-and-yellow sprint pair also entered Beijing as big favorites, but then lost the gold medal fight to Germany.
Switzerland took silver and Germany bronze.
