Having already fallen once, the 28-year-old was coming downhill at speed when her left ski clashed with her right foot, tumbling forward and hitting the slope face-first and somersaulting onto her back. Further issues then arose as Andersson’s right ski shot away in front of her as she tried her hardest to compose herself and catch it up. After failing to clip her foot back into the ski, the Solleftea-born athlete was spotted with the blade under her arm as she essentially ran to build momentum.

As Andersson fell, Ian Woods – on TNT Sports commentary – was heard saying: “Oh again, what has happened? And she has lost a ski. It is broken – the binding is still attached to her boot, so that ski is no use whatsoever. She will realise that now, there will be technicians nearby hopefully.”

After assisting Andersson with a replacement, chaos further ensued when a Swedish technician fell as he rushed to carry the broken ski away from the course, as TV2 expert Petter Skinstad said: “Ebba Andersson looks really stressed in the downhill here now. Terrified, simply!”

After a late resurgence from Frida Karlsson and Jonna Sundling, Sweden eventually managed to pull themselves back into the race overtaking a number of teams ahead of them to secure an admirable silver, all things considered.

Kristin Austgulen Fosnaes, Astrid Oeyre Slind, Karoline Simpson-Larsen and Heidi Weng clinched gold in the event for Norway with a time of one hour and 15 minutes, with Sweden only trailing by around 50 seconds. For context, Finland won bronze, lagging Norway by one minute and 14 seconds.

In the aftermath of the event, Andersson explained that she was devastated with her performance, while labelling her race as a “complete disaster.” She told TNT Sports: “This day was a complete disaster for me. Unfortunately for the team, my leg got a really big gap for both Frida and Jonna to chase the other nations.”

On any potential injuries, Andersson also added that the weight of her faults mentally hurt more than any physical scrapes. She added: “My body feels okay, but it hurts more in my heart.”

Team-mate Karlsson, meanwhile, explained that the group share Andersson’s emotions and that they will look to recoup together. She said: “I was just determined to give it my all out there and fight for the team.

“We will give [Ebba] a lot of hugs and love and we share her emotions. We’re the best team, we share everything – and we will melt this and reload together.”

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