Team Sprint (Freestyle), Women

Based on the results of the individual sprint event a week earlier, Sweden and Norway had to be considered favorites for the team sprint. Norway’s team included Marit Bjørgen, the most successful female cross-country skier of all time, and Maiken Caspersen Falla, silver medalist in the individual sprint. The Swedish team consisted of skiathlon gold medalist Charlotte Kalla, and Stina Nilsson winner of the individual sprint. The Olympic Athletes from Russia and the United States team of Kikkan Randall und Jessie Diggins were considered potential bronze medalists. The first semi-final was dominated by Norway; Switzerland, Slovenia and Germany also advanced to the final. The second semi-final was hard-fought with the United States being the eventual winners beating Sweden into second, and another four teams - OAR, Finland, Poland and France – qualified as the fastest losers. In the final, Norway, Sweden, United States, and the Olympic Athletes from Russia dictated the first part of the race. Then, Diggins increased the pace and broke away together with Sweden and Norway. The Swiss and the Russians, after a fall and a broken ski pole, both lost contact.

The race was decided on the last of six 1.2 km legs, when Falla led the trio into the last descent. Falla, and the second-placed Nilsson, made physical contact and became unbalanced, but both managed to stay on their feet. Coming out of the descent, Nilsson looked like a sure winner, but an extremely strong Diggins passed Falla and closed the gap on Nilsson. Coming out of the slipstream, the American rose to the occasion and beat Nilsson by 0.2 seconds. Falla just made sure to secure the bronze medal for Norway. For America’s Kikkan Randall, it was the first Olympic medal in her fifth Olympics, and in her eighteenth Olympic race. Diggins finished among the top seven in all six women’s cross country events in 2018. Randall and Diggins, world champions in the team sprint in 2013, made history by being the first non-European team to win the women’s team sprint at the Olympics. Although, she missed the expected gold medal, Marit Bjørgen won her 14th Olympic medal, making her the most successful Winter Olympian, and with one more event still to come in PyeongChang. Switzerland and Finland finished fourth and fifth, but with a considerable gap of 18 and 20 seconds, respectively, behind third-placed Norway.