Cross-country skiing · International
Andersson retains world skiathlon title in Trondheim photo finish
Ebba Andersson defended her 20 km skiathlon world title, taking gold ahead of Therese Johaug with Jonna Sundling completing the podium.
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Gold decided at the finish
Ebba Andersson won the women's 20 km skiathlon at the 2025 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Trondheim on 2 March, retaining the title she had claimed in Planica two years earlier. The Swedish skier finished ahead of Norway's Therese Johaug after a photo finish at Granåsen. FIS's official result sheet records both leading athletes at 47 minutes 57.1 seconds, with Andersson ranked first and Johaug second. The identical displayed times therefore do not represent a shared gold medal: the finishing order remains Andersson, Johaug.
Jonna Sundling took bronze for Sweden, 10.2 seconds behind the winner. Her podium added a distance medal to the sprint title she had already won earlier in the championships.
Sweden places three in the first four
Frida Karlsson finished fourth, 10.5 seconds behind Andersson and only 0.3 seconds behind Sundling. Norway's Heidi Weng was fifth at 11.0 seconds. Those results put three Swedish athletes and two Norwegians in the leading five, while the separation between bronze and fifth place was less than a second.
Switzerland's Nadja Kälin led the next group in sixth at 1 minute 16.1 seconds. Krista Pärmäkoski of Finland was seventh, 0.3 seconds behind Kälin, followed by Norway's Astrid Øyre Slind in eighth at 1:26.6. Germany's Victoria Carl finished ninth at 1:44.2, and Norway's Kristin Austgulen Fosnæs completed the first ten at 1:44.8. The figures show both the closeness of the medal contest and the larger gap to the next finishers.
Two techniques in one championship race
The skiathlon combined 10 km of classic skiing with 10 km in the free technique, requiring a change of equipment midway through the race. The final classification covered the entire 20 km rather than awarding separate results for the two halves. It is a different championship discipline from the interval-start classic race and from a race conducted entirely in the free technique.
FIS reported rain and mild temperatures before the event and recorded that organisers treated the course to prepare it for competition. These conditions form part of the verified setting; the result itself is established by the official classification. Further down that classification, Emma Ribom placed 11th, Helen Hoffmann 12th and Jessie Diggins 13th, with the latter two recorded at the same deficit of 2:02.8.
A successful title defence
Andersson had won both skiathlon and 30 km mass-start gold at the 2023 World Championships. Her 2025 skiathlon victory was her fourth world title and ninth World Championships medal at the time of the race, according to FIS's report. She also arrived after winning the 10 km classic World Cup race in Falun in February.
The title remained a distinct individual championship achievement within a programme that also included sprint, interval-start, team-sprint, relay and mass-start events. The official Andersson results record subsequently lists another Trondheim gold in the 10 km interval start on 4 March and a relay victory on 7 March. Her skiathlon defence therefore began a series of three gold-medal results during these championships.
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