By Philip O’Connor and Mari Saito
ZHANGJIAKOU, China (Reuters) -Sweden’s Sandra Naeslund stormed to victory in a controversial women’s ski cross final at the Winter Olympics on Thursday, bursting out of the gate and not looking back until her first Games medal was secured.
Canada’s Marielle Thompson claimed the silver and Daniela Maier of Germany the bronze. Fanny Smith, a bronze medallist at Pyeongchang 2018, was relegated to fourth for an infringement after a prolonged review of the final.
“It feels unbelievable,” a tearful Naeslund said after claiming her first Olympic medal after three attempts, including fourth place in Pyeongchang four years ago.
“A meter before the line I realised I was first in an Olympic final. It’s huge … there’s so much relief, pride, gratitude, there’s so many emotions,” she said.
Workers used shovels to clear the course and flatten sections of it before redrawing the lines ahead of the final races after heavy snow fell during the afternoon.
As the snow blew in almost horizontally across the course, Naeslund took no chances, powering into the lead and bolting over the technical opening section to stay out of trouble.
The 25-year-old Naeslund crossed the line ahead of Thompson, Smith and Maier, but the official result was delayed due to a lengthy review after a number of near-misses.
The four athletes waited in the freezing cold, Naeslund clutching a Swedish flag, for the result of the review, which ended with Switzerland’s Smith being downgraded to fourth place and Maier moving up to third.
“I was trying to be okay with fourth place, of course I was very disappointed,” Maier said.
Naeslund’s gold put Sweden on 15 medals at the Games, tied with the 2014 Sochi Games as their best ever haul.
Sweden’s victory ended Canada’s dominance in the women’s ski cross event. Since the Vancouver 2010 Games, a Canadian had won gold at every Olympics.
“I’m super excited with silver,” Canada’s Thompson said.
“I just congratulated Sandra and told her she skied really well, she’s definitely a tough competitor, and she’s pushing me to be better,” she added.
(Reporting by Mari Saito, Winni Zhou and Philip O’Connor; Editing by Ken Ferris, Himani Sarkar and Ed Osmond)
