Her courage was rewarded: Ebba Andersson from Sweden won gold in the cross-country mass start over 30 kilometers in the classic technique at the World Championships in Planica after a long solo run with a huge lead – 1:22.18 hours was ultimately her winning time. Katharina Hennig ran into the top ten on Saturday (March 4th, 2023).
After the silver medal for the German women’s relay and sensational bronze for the men, the DSV team missed the next step on the podium, but national coach Peter Schlickenrieder was not dissatisfied shortly before the end of the race at the sports show microphone: “We’re within striking distance, even if it wasn’t quite enough for the front. But we don’t give Ebba the title, she’s a great athlete without any airs and graces.”
Full attack without a backpack
Hennig went into the classic race, which she had stated as one of her main goals in the run-up to the World Championships, relatively relaxed. They were looking for a successor to Therese Johaug, the 14-time world champion from Norway had ended her career last winter. Hennig rejoiced after the relay medal before the start and flirted with the podium again: “It’s all done. The backpack is gone, I’ll go there without pressure.”
Chasing: Linn Svahn and Katharina Hennig (right)
But it was only enough for the very first few kilometers. Hennig kept in wait in the field of 44 athletes. First, the Norwegian Tiril Udnes Weng took the lead, but without pushing the pace too much. In addition to Hennig, the two Germans Pia Fink and Laura Gimmler were also able to keep up. When Finland’s Kerttu Niskanen picked up the pace a bit and increased the pressure together with Sweden’s Frida Karlsson and Andersson, numerous athletes fell behind. Gimmler and Fink also had to give up, but fought back at 10 kilometers.
Andersson storms away alone in front
For the fourth DSV athlete, Katherine Sauerbrey, the pace was already too high, the silver Olympian from the women’s relay in Beijing 2022 was mostly around 30th place.
At kilometer 13, Andersson took the risk early on and went on his own to hunt for gold. At halfway point in the race, the Swede was already 20 seconds behind the chasing trio Anne Kjersti Kalva (Norway), Rosie Brennan (USA) and Niskanen, shortly afterwards Andersson teammates Linn Svahn and Frida Karlsson joined them. Behind them the gap got bigger and bigger, Hennig was also more than half a minute behind at 15 kilometers in eighth place.
Surprising tactic by Karlsson
Karlsson’s tactics seemed somewhat surprising at first, as she stretched herself to the front of the chasing group – her compatriot was in the lead. Possibly clever calculation was behind it, because Andersson’s lead continued to grow: Karlsson obviously slowed down the athletes behind her a little and thus protected Andersson’s top position.
At the last split at 24.7 kilometers, the decision was clearly made: The five pursuers were already 1:08 minutes behind, so it was only a matter of silver and bronze. The Norwegian Kalvaa finally secured second place after a courageous start two kilometers before the end, third was Karlsson in front of Svahn and Brennan.
“Just a tough race”
After an energetic performance and a lot of leadership work in her group, Hennig finally secured seventh place. Pia Fink was the second best German as a strong 13th, Laura Gimmler finished 20th, Sauerbrey fought her way up to 23rd, which pleased Peter Schlickenrieder very much: “If you get four girls in the top 23, then you have to be very satisfied. Great World Championships, great story, and two medals are more than I could have hoped for.”
Hennig was not entirely satisfied: “It was really a tough race in these humid and warm conditions. Unfortunately, I pretty much screwed up my ski change, to put it bluntly. But I’m happy with seventh place and I have a medal in my luggage.”