Out on a ski: Ebba Andersson falls in the cross-country skiing relay at the Olympics

Relay race was running for exactly 36:02 minutes when Swedish cross-country skier Ebba Andersson skied down a slope – and suddenly did a somersault. When she fell, the right ski came off and he skied down the trail alone. Worse still: the binding had torn off and was now stuck to the shoe. So Andersson jogged after her ski, checked it, saw that she could no longer ski with it. Then, what a picture, she ran along the trail on one ski, the other in her hand, until after a full minute a supervisor came.

The carer, who had also fallen headfirst into the snow while sprinting to her, brought her a new ski. And then Andersson, the Swedes’ second runner after starter Linn Svahn, was allowed to do what her original task on the trail is again: cross-country skiing, and not running along it. Number three, Frida Karlsson, who was waiting at the finish line, rolled her eyes and later didn’t come to the press conference because she was unwell. In any case, the gap had become far too great and Norway’s relay team unexpectedly won gold. The big favorites from Sweden still finished in second place after Karlsson and final runner Jonna Sundling caught up. The Swedes’ smiles at the award ceremony were still pained.

Andersson dragged himself to the press conference: “It’s very difficult to sit here, but part of this game. I just want to go back to the hotel, take a shower and shake off my negative emotions for today.” What did she think after her ski went down the slope and was no longer usable? “There were a lot of emotions running through my body and mind at that moment. It was a complete disaster. I was just trying to run down the hill as fast as I could.”

The route in Tesero is considered difficult and very treacherous because of its many climbs and winding descents. The rain on Saturday further softened the already slushy snow. Andersson, who had already gotten stuck with her skis on a climb and fell, had a bad day. She was “very tricky on the descent,” but sportily admitted: “It was all down to me, not the conditions.”

“I have never seen what Ebba did in this form,” says national coach Schlickenrieder, puzzled

The German Olympic champion from Beijing 2022, Katharina Hennig Dotzler, was more critical: “I am grateful to have stopped on the downhill because it was criminal.” Several runners fell on the first lap. National coach Peter Schlickenrieder, whose German relay team finished in fourth place, said in astonishment: “I’ve never seen what Ebba did before. It feels like you walk a kilometer until you get a pair of skis.”

While the Norwegians celebrated after the race and philosophized about the conditions with Crown Prince Haakon, the Swedes were satisfied. And they received comforting words from the winners that they probably didn’t want to hear: “I feel for her, it’s not a nice situation for her,” Astrid Öyre Slind said to Andersson. Then one of the unluckiest silver medalists of these Winter Games went to the hotel to simply shower the day away.