"I did it, and it feels amazing!" On February 17, after winning the women's steeplechase title in freestyle skiing at the Beijing Winter Olympics, Swedish athlete Sandra Neslund said excitedly.
From the seedings, Sandra Neslund showed great strength, winning the championship in the quarter-finals, quarter-finals, semi-finals and grand finals. "I felt good today and the gliding was handled very well." "The only difficulty is snow, because it makes the trail change every time you glide, and there are new challenges," she says. ”
At an early age, Neslund began training in his father's sports, including skiing and football. At the age of 5, her father began teaching her alpine skiing, and even personally served as her alpine ski instructor at one point. However, when Neslund was 14 years old, he accidentally came into contact with the obstacle chase project and decided to develop on the project. "In 2011, when I was competing in an alpine skiing competition, I tried the obstacle course and I thought it was very interesting, special, perfect for me, and I liked it." Since the age of 16, Neslund has been a member of the Swedish obstacle course pursuit team. She has previously competed in two Winter Olympics, the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, where she finished fifth in the freestyle ski women's steeplechase. Four years later, at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, she finished fourth. This time at the Beijing Winter Olympics, she made even greater progress, not only on the podium, but also the medals were golden. But this is not a big luck, Neslund has been quite good in the Beijing Winter Olympic cycle, one proof of which is that she won the first competition in her comeback, the World Championships, after a knee injury in November 2020. "The more important the game, the harder it is to concentrate." She said after winning the title, "Good thing I've done well all season, that's what happened today. I'm happy that I've performed very well, always leading and winning the championship. ”
"The fastest girl today won the gold medal." Runner-up Canadian athlete Mariele Thompson said, "She deserves it. After watching the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Thompson began training and competing in the obstacle course. At the PyeongChang Winter Olympics four years ago, she finished 17th. "Actually I skated well that time, but I had bad luck that day." She said, "Today I have made sufficient preparations, and everything is very different from Pingchang. Bronze medalist Daniela Meier is the first ever German athlete to win a medal in the Freestyle Steeplechase at the Winter Olympics.