On the women's side, six Swedish women, all except Ebba Andersson, advanced from the prologue to the sprint finals in freestyle. But what initially seemed to be a fun blue-yellow day turned sour already in the quarterfinals.
There, they disappeared one by one. Linn Svahn, who seemed to be skiing calmly and controlled in the quarterfinal, missed advancement after a long curve into the finish stretch caused trouble, and made Svahn cross the finish line third.
The two best-placed in each heat advance to the semifinal, and also the two best times overall in the quarterfinals. But not even the time was enough for Svahn, who thus got eliminated.
"Worse than expected"
It's clearly worse than expected, but what's good about the tour is that there are many races. I'm a bit too unaccustomed to competing and don't ski the way I usually do, I think I'm losing positions where I normally take them, says Svahn to SVT.
The Swedish nightmare didn't stop at Svahn's elimination. Just a few heats later, Johanna Hagström messed up in a curve, got tangled up with another skier, and fell to the ground.
Despite a hard chase, the Swedish sprint star couldn't catch up, and thus was also eliminated in the quarterfinal.
I'm frustrated. It's sprint and this kind of thing happens, I get Lena's (Quintin, France) skis under me and slip. I don't think I'm doing anything wrong, but I haven't seen the sequence either, says Hagström to SVT.
Broke a pole in the final
Even Moa Lundgren, Moa Ilar, and Märta Rosenberg missed advancing, and in the end, only Maja Dahlqvist made it past the quarterfinal. The 30-year-old managed to give the Swedish audience a little joy in all the disappointment, when she made it all the way to the final.
But even Dahlqvist's joy was short-lived. In the final, she got her day ruined after breaking a pole, and finished last. The reigning tour champion Jessie Diggins, USA, won the sprint.
On the men's side, Edvin Anger was the best Swedish skier, after being eliminated in the semifinal. Norwegian giant Johannes Høsflot Klæbo won the men's final.
Tour de Ski continues on Sunday with a 15 km mass start in classical style.
