When Jonna Sundling broke through, it was as a sprinter.

But last season something happened.

At Holmenkollen's three-mile race, she took third place, her then best distance result in the World Cup and first podium place in addition to sprints.

She then topped it in March in Falun at the World Cup, where she came second in the ten kilometer race.

What made her blossom as a distance skier then?

Even more sprint-oriented training.

- Last year I stopped training to become an even better sprinter, more training for sprints, so I put aside thoughts about distance skiing, she tells Yle.

"Didn't think it would happen"

With the Olympic sprint in Beijing as his goal, Sundling specialized his training towards sprinting.

- So I got a big bonus, I could suddenly ski a little better distance, I felt stronger as a skier overall.

- Since I hadn't trained for distance skiing, I didn't think it would happen, she tells Yle.

Here, Jonna Sundling and Frida Karlsson train together: "Gold worth":

Javascript is disabled

Javascript must be enabled to play video

Read more about browser support

Here, Jonna Sundling and Frida Karlsson train together: "Gold worth" Photo: SVT