Victoria Carl pays tribute to the efforts of the Tour de Ski shortly before the end. The Olympic champion loses ground in the overall tour standings due to Norwegian Therese Johaug’s impressive victory in the skiathlon. Johaug, on the other hand, is on the verge of her next big triumph.
With a show of force, the cross-country skiing star took the lead in the Tour de Ski. Johaug won the penultimate stage in Val di Fiemme over 20 kilometers and took the golden bib from her compatriot Astrid Öyre Slind. Slind lost the photo finish duel with the Austrian Teresa Stadlober and came third (both +30.6 seconds).
Carl without a chance – Fink good twelfth
Meanwhile, Carl was clearly losing ground. The 29-year-old, who had an eye on the top 5 in the Tour standings before the race, conceded two and a half minutes and came eleventh, directly ahead of teammate Pia Fink. In Toblach, Carl had shone with two fourth places, but gave up a lot during her strong performance in the pursuit on New Year’s Day because she was alone there for a long time.
Mama Johaug determines the race
The first ten kilometers in the classic diagonal style were really fast, Johaug in particular pushed the pace. The 36-year-old, who only became a mother a year and a half ago, set off together with Slind and Stadlober as well as the Swede Ebba Anderson.
The rest of the field had to drop out, including Carl, who was always in the top 15. When she switched to skating skis, the team sprint Olympic champion was in twelfth place, around a minute behind the leading quartet.
“Really difficult to make up seconds”
Pia Fink and Laura Gimmler, fifth in the sprint on Friday, ran another 30 seconds behind. “You have to be honest, there’s a lot of activity going on up front.”said national coach Peter Schlickenrieder at halftime. “It will be really difficult to make up seconds.”
Johaug on the verge of his fourth overall Tour victory
In fact, no one could catch up in the second ten kilometers of skating style. On the contrary: Johaug continuously pulled away from her pursuers and safely celebrated her 86th World Cup success. The four-time Olympic champion and three-time Tour winner has a lead of over 20 seconds over Slind and the American Jessie Diggins before the final on Sunday.
Schlickenrieder on the tour reform: “No one needs it”
The overall victory will be decided at the final mass start of the Tour de Ski. Then it goes on the infamous last climb on the “Olimpia III” downhill route up to Alpe Cermis. The women’s field of participants had more than halved on Saturday before the start.
One reason for this is probably the new direction of the Tour de Ski; this year there are fewer changes of location and, in return, longer routes. This reform angers national coach Schlickenrieder: “The requirements are clearly too difficult for me. There are FIS regulations that limit the number of meters in altitude and here we are almost 20 percent over it. No one needs this ‘higher, faster, further’ because at the end of the day they always win or the best.”