Sundling leads Swedish charge in Lillehammer

In the second women’s sprint event of the 2018-19 World Cup season, Sundling took her first World Cup gold in her first appearance in this season’s competition.

The 23-year-old’s victory came as something of a surprise given she only narrowly qualified for the quarter-finals with an initial time of 3:02.17.

However, Sundling went from strength to strength in the next rounds, narrowly beating five-time Olympic medallist and fellow Swede Stina Nilsson to victory.

Nilsson holds second place in the overall rankings and third spot on the sprint leaderboard, although the weekend’s 10km interval and pursuit events are likely to knock her down a few places.

The USA’s Sadie Bjornsen rounded off the podium, securing her standing in the overall top 10.

After winning the classic sprint in the opening event of the World Cup, Russian athlete and current yellow bib-holder Yulia Belorukova crashed out at the quarter-final stage.

However, as well as the overall lead, Belorukova is also top of the Under-23 ranks, with top-five finishes in both sprint and interval events so far, so the longer distances this weekend may help her maintain her dominance.

Sportsbeat 2018