Sweden's national team coach Anders Byström goes from one interview to another with a single task: umbrella holder to protect today's main person from the rain pouring over Granåsen's World Championship stadium.
And for once, Ebba Andersson also allows herself to pat herself on the back a little.
Best when it comes to this time, she says about the dramatic finish.
Unbearable wait
After Jonna Sundling fell and in the fall dragged Norwegian Heidi Weng with her just before the last lap, it became a pure duel for the gold. Andersson and comeback star Therese Johaug followed each other all the way over the finish line, and only after a nervous wait came the message:
The gold was Ebba Andersson's.
Therese came up and congratulated me, she already thought I was first. But I didn't dare believe it until the official confirmation came, says Andersson.
And then I just wanted to scream out all the work and all the toil and all the patience that lies behind this gold.
The season has been anything but flawless. Unlike the World Championship in Planica two years ago, when Andersson came to the championship as a big favorite and fulfilled expectations with two individual golds, this winter has been troubled with modest results.
I've just tried to be realistic. The season hasn't been flawless and it's really only now at the end that I've started to get up to speed.
That makes me feel a little extra proud today.
That she beats just Johaug, who made a comeback with full focus on the home World Championship in Trondheim, doesn't make it worse.
Of course, it matters. It's really a feather in the cap. But I think more that the whole journey that lies behind this gold, that's what matters most.
Thanks to shoe size
A photo finish was required to determine who was first. At the beginning of the sprint, Andersson thought the gold medal was lost.
Yes, I actually thought "damn, now the gold medal is gone". I was first into the last curve just as planned. But then Therese took a tight curve and got a lot of speed out of it.
But step by step, the Swede got closer and eventually past.
I'm glad I had the shoe size I had.
Sundling, who took World Championship gold in the sprint the other day, eventually solved the bronze medal after her own sprint battle with Frida Karlsson and Weng.
It's her first championship medal in a distance event.
Born: July 10, 1997 (27 years old) in Delsbo.
Club: Piteå Elit.
Main merits: Two World Championship golds in skiathlon (2023, 2025), World Championship gold on 30 km (2023), World Championship gold in relay (2019), World Championship silver in relay (2017), World Championship bronze on 10 km (2023), World Championship bronze in relay (2023), World Championship bronze on 10 km (2021), World Championship bronze in skiathlon (2021), Olympic Games silver in relay (2018), Olympic Games bronze in relay (2022).
Debut in the World Cup: February 15, 2015.
