Despite the accident, the 33-year-old refused to give up. After a break of 18 minutes, she got up, continued the race and took an impressive second place.
It feels good, I had to stop to get stitched, otherwise it went well. I do not want to push myself too hard, so I took it a bit easy, says Alexandersson after the competition.
The Canfranc marathon, which was held in the Spanish Pyrenees, is often described as one of the toughest mountain marathons in Europe. The distance is 45 kilometers long and includes about 4,000 meters of altitude.
Alexandersson led the race, according to SVT, and seemed to be heading for victory when she fell and injured herself badly. The injuries required five stitches before she could resume the competition. Finally, it was a second place behind the Spaniard Raúl Criado Sánchez.
Earlier in August, Alexandersson chose to opt out of the European Championship in orienteering to focus on the Olympic Games and the new sport of ski mountaineering in Milan and Cortina next year.
