After half the race, half a minute had become 55 seconds for Johaug and the excitement was instead in the fight over who would end up on the podium. A trio of Heidi Weng, Natalja Neprjajeva and Ingvild Flugstad Östberg fought for the two remaining pallet seats.
And the trio would keep each other company all the way to the end where Russian Natalja Neprjajeva took the chance on the last slope and sprinted down the Norwegians. The third place was of course Norwegian, but it was Invild Flugstad Östberg who took it. A big toe parted Östberg against Weng after a target photo.
For the Swedes, Moa Lundgren was in the best starting position when she started eight after yesterday's distance race. Just behind her, however, was Ebba Andersson who turned out to be the Swedish with the most power today. Andersson and Lundgren kept steady during the first quarter, but then Ebba picked up the pace.
Slowly but surely Ebba Andersson passed more and more and when only 2.5 kilometers remained the Swede was up and fighting with Finnish Krista Parmakoski for fifth place. Andersson was the one who pulled during the remainder of the race but once it was asked about fifth place it was Parmakoski who was the starting box and finished fifth.
The second best Swedish was Charlotte Kalla, who slipped into goal as twelve after a strong finish. Moa Lundgren was in the top ten for a long time but with the last quarter left to go the mile, the forces ended and she crashed to a 17th place.
The text is updated