Charlotte Kalla, 26, came second in Thursday's event to bring home Sweden's fourth silver medal of the games, and fifth medal overall.
The Swede collapsed face down after the race in exhaustion.
"It was tiring today, it hardly felt like I had the speed to steer on the slopes," she told TV3 after the race.
"It was hard to imagine that it would have been enough to to get up on the podium."
The weather on the slopes was more balmy than many had anticipated, with the 13C temperatures enough to see many competitors stripping down to their T-shirts.
But warm weather was no match for the gold medal winner, Poland's Justyna Kowalczyk, who beat the Swede by a whopping 18.4 seconds. Bronze went to Norway's Therese Johaug.
But it was Kalla who was the hero for the Swedish public on Thursday, and her silver marked her second at Sochi, after Saturday's 7.5 kilometre classic. It also makes her the most successful Swede at the games this year.
But Kalla is no stranger to the Olympic podium. In Vancouver, back in 2010, Kalla won the gold in the 10 km freestyle ski and took home a silver in the team sprint.
The 26-year-old, whose full name is Marina Charlotte Kalla and who is of Finnish heritage, has been skiing since the age of seven when she first took to the slopes in Tärendö in far northern Sweden, where she was born and raised.
On her personal blog, Kalla says that she "is living her dream to have the fortune to spend all my time on sport skiing".
Editor's Note: The Local's Swede of the Week is someone in the news who - for good or ill - has revealed something interesting about the country. Being selected as Swede of the Week is not necessarily an endorsement.
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