Johansson's second attempt of 19.75m eclipsed her previous best by 3cm, and was ultimately enough to secure bronze behind Chase Jackson of the United States (20.14m) and Sarah Mitton of Canada (19.78m).
She was sitting behind Jackson in silver medal position after two throws apiece, but after Mitton went further in the fourth round, Johansson was unable to improve. It's a first senior global medal for the 25-year-old Swede, who was third at the European Games in 2023.
Her compatriot Fanny Roos was already sitting in sixth place when she pulled out a best attempt of 18.96m in the fifth round which wasn't enough to move her into medal contention, ultimately finishing in sixth on what was a very positive event for Sweden.
There was Swedish interest in the first medal event of the championships, as Louise Ekman was looking to continue her fine form in the women's high jump, having already set new personal bests of 1.91m and 1.96m already in 2026, having never gone higher than 1.85m before.
After first-time clearances of 1.85m and 1.89m, the 28-year-old needed two attempts to clear 1.93m. With the bar set to 1.96m, the 11-strong field had been whittled down to seven.
But Ekman was unable to repeat the personal best she jumped in Slovakia in February, failing three times to eventually finish in seventh place.
Ukraine's Olympic champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh won her second world indoor gold with a jump of 2.01m, two centimetres better than Serbia's Angelina Topic, Nicola Olyslagers of Australia and another Ukrainian, Yuliya Levchenko, who tied for silver.
In the evening session, Samuel Pihlstrom showed great control to win his heat in the men's 1500m in a time of 3:43.38.
The Paris Olympics finalist made a measured start, allowing the early pacesetters to go out in front, before making his move at the 600m mark, going from last to first in the space of 100m.
From that point, the 25-year-old held off all his challengers to take victory almost 10 seconds slower than his indoor personal best, marginally ahead of Portugal's Isaac Nader and Carlos Saez of Spain. Pihlstrom will now head into the final, scheduled for Sunday evening.
There was no such joy for Wilma Nielsen, who finished fifth in her heat in the women's 1500m and will not progress to the final. The Gothenburg native stayed out of trouble on the outside in the middle of the pack early on, before challenging USA's Nikki Hiltz for the lead around the 1000m mark.
However, as the race opened up, the 24-year-old was passed by eventual winner Agathe Guillemot of France and Ludovica Cavalli. On the final straight, Gabija Galvydyte of Lithuania pipped Nielsen to fourth place, as the Swede finished in a time of 4:17.48.