Cross-country skier Sandra Ringwald rushed past her first World Cup podium by a hair’s breadth. In Lahti’s freestyle sprint, the 27-year-old from Schonach finished fourth on Saturday and equalled her best career result in the victory of Sochi Olympic champion Maiken Caspersen Falla (Norway). Ringwald was only a tenth of a second short of third place.
Not only thanks to Ringwald, who achieved the best DSV result this winter, the German cross-country skiers came back surprisingly strongly after messed up winter games. Anne Winkler (Sayda) entered a World Cup semi-final for the first time in her career and became a strong eleventh.
Victoria Carl, on the other hand, played an unfortunate role. The former junior world champion from Zella-Mehlis took a surprising fourth place in the qualification. In the quarter-finals, however, the 22-year-old then took part in a fight, crashed, was the last to reach the finish line and was forced to move to the final place of the 30 quarter-finals because of the handicap of a rival.
In the fall Carl fell on his head and was taken to hospital with suspected concussion.
At the Olympic (classic) sprint in Pyeongchang, no German runner had reached the semi-finals of the top twelve. The best single result in South Korea was a 16th place. Place of Stefanie Böhler over 30 km.
Falla took revenge for her defeat in the Olympic sprint against Swedish Stina Nilsson, who finished second in Lahti ahead of her compatriot Hanna Falk.
The two DSV starters were eliminated from the men’s qualifying round in Lahti, Sebastian Eisenlauer (Sonthofen) finished 37th, Thomas Bing (Dermbach) came in 58th. Italy’s Federico Pellegrino secured the victory in the same spot as at the 2017 World Cup. Norway’s new top star Johannes Hösflot Kläbo had to settle for third place after three gold medals in South Korea.
On Sunday there will be distance races in Lahti in classic style over 10 km (women’s 11.15 hrs in LIVETICKER) and 15 km (men’s 12.45 hrs in LIVETICKER).