– This is sport at its worst, it’s so fucking boring. I had such an incredibly good season and I thought I would manage from illnesses, says Karlström snarling and hard to take to the media after the race.
Karlström was up and down in the bunch but just before 13 kilometers the string started to go properly and the Swede lost the leading main bunch.
He was then in 21st place, four seconds behind the lead with a negative tendency.
Two kilometers later at 15km he had dropped to 16 seconds behind and was dropping further after that. At the finish line, he was over two minutes behind the lead. Already at 6-7 kilometers he felt that it was not there today.
“No pressure in the body”
A couple of days ago, Karlström revealed that he won the EC at the beginning of June with covid in his body and that he had another infection after that.
– After the European Championships, it only received and there is no pressure in the body, it did not respond. It would take more than a miracle for it to work, says Karlström, who will now let his body heal.
Ecuadorian Brian Pintado took the gold after a strong finish. Caio Bonfim, who made a move already during the first kilometer and received a warning, was second and the Spaniard Alvaro Martin third.
In the waistband Pintado had pictures of his two children.
– They inspired me to really give everything, says Pintado according to Reuters.
