Edvin Anger was the light in a dark ski tunnel for the Swedish men today.
Only Anger made it through the qualifiers.
The 20-year-old made a splash last spring when he beat the entire Swedish elite in the SC sprint and took the gold despite being a junior and in his World Cup debut in Ruka last week he was twelfth.
Therefore, there was some hope for what he could come up with in Norway.
And the 20-year-old first advanced in time to the semi-finals and once there he skated very aggressively and was in the lead when the skaters entered the stadium.
Only Kläbo had the strength to pass the Swede, who finished second.
In the final, the Swede showed the same courage again.
He was in the lead well into the race and by the time they entered the stadium he was third and fighting for a podium.
But in that fight the Swede had no strength left.
Johannes Hösflot Kläbo won as usual.
Second was Pellegrino ahead of third Evan Northug and Anger slipped into fourth.
Anger was seventh in the qualifier and chose to ride in the first difficult heat against Johannes Hösflot Kläbo and the Frenchman Lucas Chanavat.
- I am not here to go out in a quarter-final, so I know that it is necessary to go in one of the first heats, Anger told SVT about his choice.
One explanation for the weak results from other Swedes today is the material.
But in the quarter-finals and onwards, Edvin Anger's skis were perfect and national team manager Anders Byström was really pleased with how the vale team got it.
- Yes, I think the dykes do such a good job, the dykes, and they get shit here because we may not have been top in the prologue, but they did a great job until the final, says Byström to SVT Sport.