Olympia 2018: Wrong turn: Blackout costs Stadlober medal

Teresa Stadlober seemed on her way to a medal – only the sovereign Marit Björgen was in front of her. But about nine kilometres before the finish of the 30-km Olympic race in Pyeongchang, the Salzburg woman made a wrong turn. The blackout lasted about one minute, and the stadium was only ninth (+4:14.1 min.). After her eighth gold medal, Björgen became the most successful winter Olympic athlete.

Stadlober had placed great hopes in her favorite contest. On the longest distance, in the preferred classical technique and with mass start, she believed to have her best chances after finishing ninth in the Skiathlon seventh and over 10 km of skating.

The race started perfectly. The skis were well prepared and when Björgen broke away from the rivals after only a third of the distance, the 25-year-old Radstädterin together with Charlotte Kalla, Krista Pärmäkoski and Kerttu Niskanen (both from Finland), who were later placed second, formed the chasing group. Kalla fell back after a change of skis and the stadium vowel raised the pace at the head of the pursuers.

Suddenly she found herself alone, the pursuers seemed to be shaken off. Stadlober looked back in disbelief – and soon after recognized her mistake. The additional loop to find my way back to the right course took a lot of time, the possible medal was out of reach,”I’ve been there for three weeks now, when I don’t know the course there…” was annoyed by the current fifth place in the World Cup.

“I felt so good. When the Finnish women slackened off, I thought a medal was possible,”explained the athlete trained by her father Alois. She knew what a great opportunity she had missed.”It’s a bitter thing to do on a day like this, when it would all fit together.”

Markus Gandler, the athletic director of the ÖSV, was sure that the first women’s medal in cross-country skiing at the Olympics would have been possible:”For me, Teresa was clearly on the silver course,”said the Tyrolean.

Teresa Stadlober (AUT/Ninth):”I ran on the wrong lap. I can’t explain it to myself. Now I’ve been there so long, I should know the route by now. I don’t understand it myself. I had a great day and was in such good shape. I had super material for that. I don’t know whether to laugh or’ rean’. I was just stupid.”

Markus Gandler (sports director cross-country skiing in the ÖSV):”It is hard, but it has happened and you can’t turn it back. That she’s still in the top ten with one kilometre more, that’s insane. She looked great, ridden an attack and then we realize she’s not coming, then I saw her – 150,200 meters away – running upstairs and screaming. She didn’t hear me, I first caught her on the descent and she noticed it in the descent that no one else was behind her. She has had a little fissure in the descent, has gotten out of balance and hasn’t noticed at that moment that she is on the wrong course. In her mind, unimaginable things are happening at this very moment. She was clearly on course for silver, she was stronger than the others, then that happens.”

Alois Stadlober (Father/During the error of Teresa Stadlober as co-commentator live on ORF:”She got lost, something happened. You’re wrong! She went wrong, fuckin’ cabin. Where did it go now? Hattigatti again. All off – my God. I didn’t think she’d come along alone like that. That’s bitter now. No, anything can happen, but not that. How is that possible? That’s inconceivable. God didn’t want that. That’s bitter, I haven’t seen that before. It shuts down in the lane. I don’t know where she’s going. That’s bitter, in dream form. Too bad, but it won’t help. She looked good, no problem at all. It looks like she really might have been able to walk on the medal. And then the unimaginable mistake happens. Where was she thinking? Has she been to the medal yet? This can’t be happening. A lot of things could have been possible.”