Great drama unfolded in the quarter-finals of the sprint. Maja Dahlqvist had the pole cracked by a German skater and tried in vain to catch up with Moa Ilar who could easily have taken second place and a place in the semifinals. Then Ilar chose to put himself in second place and drop past Dahlqvist who was chasing victory in the sprint cup.
Mathias Fredriksson is surprised by the unusual washing up for unsportsmanlike conduct.
- I've never heard anyone get washed up because you drive too slowly on the riot. It will be difficult to have such a rule. Johan Olsson won his World Cup gold in 2013 when the Swedes were slowing down the cluster behind, shouldn't that be allowed either?
The fact that Maja Dahlqvist has broken the pole is also a mitigating circumstance, according to Mathias Fredriksson.
"If Maja hadn't broken the pole, it wouldn't have happened. Everyone knows that she is better to sprint than Ilar and would have been ahead of her otherwise. And that Maja broke the rod was not her fault, it was because of Hennig.
Many opinions
There were many opinions about Moa Ilar's actions and in Nadine Fändrich's homeland they were more critical.
"It was a competition that was characterized by excitement, but also by unsportsmanlikeness," says Swiss SRF expert Adriano Iseppi, according to Blick.
Norwegian skier Ana Appekvist Stenseth still thought it was fair that Maja Dahlqvist won the cup.
- I think it's a bit unsportsmanlike, it is. It wouldn't have happened if it had been a heat where you don't have anyone from the same country. But Dahlqvist is a worthy winner of the sprint cup.