:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/mentormedier/UM3KSZEOBECCKO2C7EY6FXYZWE.jpg "Kristine Stavås Skistad beat the Swedes and took the World Cup victory in the sprint in Lahti – Dagsavisen")
The 25-year-old played through the heats and won ahead of Coletta Rydzek and Maja Dahlqvist.
– This was as planned. I got up today determined to win. I was excited, and I love to win. Today it didn’t cost a calorie to walk. It was like going to a Wednesday race at home in Konnerud, Skistad told Viaplay after the race.
In the final, Skistad showed enormous strength in the end.
– What a demonstration of power, boasted Viaplay expert Niklas Dyrhaug.
In the first semi-final, Kristine Stavås conjured Skistad in the last turn before the finish, to the great excitement of the commentators. That surprised Jonna Sundling and Linn Svahn, who finished third and fourth in the heat. However, it had to move on in time. In the final, the Swedish duo finished fourth and fifth.
– It is sylphreck from Kristine. That maneuver smelled burnt, even if unobservantly by the Swedes. A tactical blunder, said Dyrhaug.
World Cup leader Jessie Diggins surprisingly disappeared already in the prologue.
Skistad is the only woman who so far this season has chastised the Swedish girls in an individual sprint competition. She won in both Granåsen and Canmore.
The Swedish super duo Sundling and Svahn won Friday’s team sprint in superb style ahead of Finland and Germany.
Next weekend, the cross-country circus moves to Holmenkollen. There, both the women and the men will walk five miles in classic style.
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