Daniela Maier achieved the first podium finish for the German ski crossers in the third race of the season. The 2022 Olympic bronze medalist raced to second place at the World Cup in Arosa, Switzerland. Cornel Renn recovered from a fall in the semifinals and ultimately finished sixth.
Second in the round of 16, first in the quarter-finals, second in the semi-finals: Maier drove confidently from the start. In the final she stood up to Olympic champion Sandra Näslund, but was no longer able to challenge the Swede for her third success of the season on the short distance. The joy of her 18th podium place was still great.
Florian Wilmsmann, the World Cup runner-up in 2023 and third overall in the World Cup last season, experienced the next disappointment: like Florian Fischer and Veronika Redder, he got stuck in the quarter-finals.
Even in the first two races of the season, “Wilmsi” didn’t make it past the top 16. The day’s victory among men went to Canadian Reece Howden for the 19th time.
For Luisa Klapprott and Leonie Bachl-Staudinger, the round of 16 was the final stop. Niklas Bachsleitner, Tim Hronek, Kilian Himmelsbach, Jonas Bachl-Staudinger and Niklas Illig were also eliminated in the first knockout round.
Arosa was the second of ten World Cup stops for the ski crossers, with a total of 18 races on the program for both women and men. The next two will take place this weekend in San Candido, Italy.