A little over a year ago, Linn Gestblom made the tough decision to sit out the 2024/25 Season to further recover from her second serious shoulder operation with one goal in mind. “I want to be on the Olympic team and have good competitions there. That is the biggest reason I came back.” Today, she checked that box emphatically opening the Women’s 4 X 6 km Relay with a single spare round, exchanging in first position, ending her day on the podium with an Olympic Silver medal around her neck.

When she tagged Anna Magnusson in the top spot, “I felt great, of course. I was just happy to not ski any more. I am very satisfied with my leg and what I did today.”

“Stil a lot of rehab”

Getting to the starting line today and actually this season was no walk in the park. She had doubts months after her last surgery, “Not knowing if I would be pain-free was a big concern. I did not follow the normal rehab program because it did not really work for me.” After today’s competition, she admitted, “I feel great right now. I am really happy about that. There is still a lot of rehab; I do it almost every day. It is still a lot of work and I still have to work to get it stronger. I am very satisfied with where I am.”

Medals “gives a lot of energy to us”

She missed being with the team last season but now after Martin Ponsiluoma’s Pursuit Gold, the Men’s Relay Bronze and now a Silver for her, “It feels great like always. It is always nice to be in our team. You get so happy when someone on the team succeeds with a medal, It gives a lot of energy to all of us.”

“Proud I came back”

The 31-year-old is no stranger to Olympic success, having won Relay Gold in 2022 at Beijing and Relay Silver at Pyeongchang in 2018. Winning her third Olympic medal is a huge achievement, “I am proud that I came back. That I continued to work for it, even if people did not always believe in it. I continued to do the work that got me here today.”

Mass Start Goal

After 9th in the 15 km Individual, jumping from 22nd to 10th in the Pursuit, and her medal today, Gestblom still has goals for Saturday’s 12.5 km Mass Start. “My goal is to have a really good race there. I would really love to have perfects shooting. I’ve had many bouts that were very good but also one in every competition where I wasn’t satisfied. I would really like to have a clean shooting day.”

After climbing all the way back from watching biathlon on TV last season and “that feeling of crossing the finish line,” a perfect day on the range might be very realistic for Linn. Stay tuned…this comeback story is not over!

Photos: IBU/Vianney Thibaut, Ola Wizor, Nordic focus