Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla got her tactics exactly right in Saturday’s Olympic women’s skiathlon as she made her break for gold, but coach Johan Granath was left on tenterhooks to see if her timing would pay off.
Kalla, who was runner-up to Norway’s Marit Bjoergen in Sochi in 2014, made her break at the start of the final lap, opening up a lead that saw her cross the finish line 7.8 seconds ahead of her Norwegian rival to take the first gold of the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
“The tactic was to take it easy on the freestyle part and try to be at the front of the field, and then go for it, either here in the stadium or where she did it,” Granath told Reuters.
“You never know how a race will develop ― she could have easily had Marit or Krista (Parmakoski, who finished third) with her, and then she would have had to go in the next hill, or the next hill,” he explained.
Granath had no need to worry as Kalla was never in danger of being reeled in by Bjoergen, whose silver made her the first woman to win 11 medals at the Olympic Winter Games.
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