Medals update: Jonna Sundling wins gold in Swedish 1-2 in Beijing 2022 women's cross-country sprint

Swedish speed queen Jonna Sundling lived up to her billing as one of the favourites, leading the race from start to finish to claim her maiden Olympic gold medal in the cross-country skiing sprint in Beijing 2022 on Tuesday (8 February).

Sundling raced to an overwhelming victory in a time of 3:09.68, finishing nearly two seconds ahead of Dahlqvist (3:12.56), with Jessie Diggins of the United States taking third place in 3:12.84.

The Swedish trio of Sundling, Dahlqvist and Emma Ribom sprinted to the front of the queue setting a blistering early pace.

Sundling made her intentions clear as she built a healthy lead between her and the chasing pack.

Coming into the final stretch, there was no doubt who the winner would be, with the Dahlqvist and Diggins fighting it out for second and third.

"Of course, it was a goal for me today to reach the podium, and you always want to win," Sundling said. "So I was skiing for that. And it was really nice to have the body, the shape, and also the skis. And it was amazing."

Bona fide superstar

Sprint specialist Sundling came into her own over the last two seasons delivering on the promise she showed as a junior. She won the junior world championships in Val di Fiemme, Italy, in 2014. 

A year out from Beijing 2022, Sundling launched herself into the top ranks of her event, winning gold in the individual and team sprint at the 2021 World Championships in Oberstdorf, Germany.

Sundling is now a bona fide superstar of Swedish cross-country skiing becoming only the second skier from her country to win Olympic gold in the women’s sprint after Stina Nilsson won the sprint classic at PyeongChang 2018.

Breaking new ground

While their shared podium was a dream debut for Sundling and Dahlqvist, the bronze medal added to Diggins' growing legend in cross-country skiing in the United States.

Diggins became the first American woman to win an Olympic medal in an individual cross-country skiing event adding to the gold she won in the team sprint with Kikkan Randall in PyeongChang 2018.

"It's overwhelming, but in a good way. It's just really emotional for me because this really belongs to the whole team. And I think it's taken so many years to get here, to have a US woman have an individual medal," Diggins said.

"That's something that doesn't happen alone, and it doesn't happen without a lot of help. So I'm just so thankful to our team. It's been a lot of people working really hard for a long time. So I think back in PyeongChang, I was also very, very grateful. And I'm still very grateful now."

Cross-country women’s free sprint results

1- Jonna Sundling (SWE) - 3:09.68
2- Maja Dahlqvist (SWE) - 3:12.56
3- Jessie Diggins (USA) - 3:12.84

The next cross-country skiing event takes place Thursday (10 February) with the women’s 10km classic. The men’s 15km classic, is on Friday (11 February).