Cross-country skiing: Norwegian Weng defends title in Tour de Ski

Norwegian cross-country skier Heidi Weng won her title at the 12. Tour de Ski successfully defended. The 26-year-old won the nine-kilometre-long mountain pursuit on Sunday in Val di Fiemme, Italy, with flying colours, securing the red jersey of the overall winner, which she had already won last year.

On the decisive tour stage up to Alpe Cermis in Trentino, Weng overtook her formerly leading team mate Ingvild Flugstadt Östberg, who had just 1.8 seconds ahead of the track, on the final climb. At the finish Weng was 48.5 seconds ahead of second-placed Östberg, who had previously won three of the six stages of the Tour.

Weng not only received 47,700 Swiss francs (around 40,700 euros) in prize money for her second Tour triumph, but also 400 points for the overall World Cup, which she now leads with 1104 points. Best German in the final calculation of the tour is Stefanie Böhler (Ibach/6:41.1 minutes back) in tenth place. On the final day, the seasoned Olympic starter was able to improve her position by another two positions.

Katharina Hennig (Oberwiesenthal/10:06.4) was still leading from 23rd to 21st place, Pia Fink (Bremelau/11:59.5) finished 26th. Place. Nevertheless, Hennig in particular is still waiting for the standard for the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang (9. till 25. February). The next chance for them will be at the Home World Cup next weekend (13. and 14. January) in Dresden, even though the sprinters will be in the spotlight there.

Böhler, Hennig and Fink were the only remaining of the originally ten German starters. Top runners like Sandra Ringwald (Schonach) or Nicole Fessel (Oberstdorf), meanwhile sixth in the overall standings, had left Oberstdorf after the second tour stop to save themselves for the Olympic Games.