Cross-country skiing: record-breaking Björgen only third in Lahti – Ringwald and Bing strong

Norway’s cross-country skiing queen Marit Björgen was defeated in the World Cup over 30 km one week after her historic Olympic gold medal. In Lahti, Finland, Björgen came a good two weeks ahead of her 38th birthday. In the 10th birthday in the classic race over 10 km only on third place and missed the 123rd place. Victory at 369. World Cup race. The best German in the success of the Finnish Krista Pärmäkoski was Sandra Ringwald (Schonach) as a good twelfth.

Thomas Bing (Dermbach) also had a strong performance, who finished ninth in the men’s race over 15 km. The victory went to the Kazakh Alexei Polotoranin, who won by 9.1 seconds ahead of the Russian Alexander Bolschunov. Norway’s youngster Johannes Hösflot Kläbo came seventh with a gap of 1’00.3 minutes, the three-time Olympic champion was only eight seconds faster than Bing.

Björgen, who succeeded Ole Einar Björndalen as the most successful winter Olympic athlete in history on the final day of the Pyeongchang Games with her eighth gold fellow countryman Ole Einar Björndalen, was 26.9 seconds behind Pärmäkoski, who had won silver and bronze in South Korea once and twice. The Russian Natalja Neprjaewa (+20.9 seconds) finished second in Lahti. Björgen’s compatriot Heidi Weng extended the lead in the overall World Cup with fifth place.

Ringwald, already a strong fourth in the sprint on Saturday, was 1’16.5 “behind Pärmäkoski. Stefanie Böhler (Ibach) as 14. and Katharina Hennig (Oberwiesenthal) as 16. showed itself also in good late form after the weak performance at Olympia.