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No two Olympic medals are earned the same way.
Sweden had a chance to secure a gold medal in the women’s 4 x 7.5km relay, but Ebba Andersson crashed hard and turned around. When Andersson stood up, she realized she had lost her right ski and could not put it back on.
She then trudged along with one ski and carried the other under her arm as she waited for Sweden’s ski technician to reach her with a new ski. The frantic scene unfolded as Andersson tried to maintain Sweden’s place on the podium.
To make matters worse, the ski technician, while running to catch up with Andersson, also fell in the snow to further delay them.
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Ebba Andersson marks teammate Frida Karlsson, right, during the women’s 4×7.5km cross-country relay race at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Tesero, Italy, on February 14, 2026. (Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP Photo)
“She’s fallen again,” BBC commentator Rob Walker said at the time of the accident, via the New York Post. “An absolute disaster – and she’s lost a ski. She’s doing her best to retrieve it.”
“What a nightmare this has turned out to be for the Swede. It’s all been going so well so far. Frida Karlsson (Andersson’s teammate) can hardly bring herself to watch.”
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Frida Karlsson walks off the track after completing her leg of the cross-country race for the women’s 4×7.5km relay at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Tesero, Italy, February 14, 2026. (Matthias Schrader/AP Photo)
“And what an effort from Andersson. She’s running. She’s running with her ski under her arm. Desperate to at least give Karlsson something to aim for.”
The crash and subsequent time off skis dropped Sweden to seventh place, but they rallied to finish second and win a silver medal. Norway beat Sweden by 50.9 seconds and finished with a time of 1:15:44.8 to secure the gold medal.
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Heidi Weng celebrates after winning the cross-country gold medal in the women’s 4×7.5km relay at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Tesero, Italy, on February 14, 2026. (Matthias Schrader/AP Photo)
Despite recovering enough to land a silver medal, Andersson was distraught by the crash.
“My body is OK, but my heart is not,” Andersson said. “I can’t blame anyone but myself. I didn’t act well enough at that moment. Then we had the worst accident imaginable with the broken ski. It was mostly panic and chaos throughout the leg.”
