Frida Karlsson positioned herself for the World Cup with a dream race over 20 kilometers at the Cross-Country Skiing World Cup in France. Katharina Hennig impressed in fifth place.
What a furious start-to-finish victory for Frida Karlsson. In the absence of the Norwegian top runners Therese Johaug, Heidi Weng and Kristin Austgulen Fosnæs and the injured Jessie Diggins, the Swede won the 20 kilometer mass start race in the classic technique in Les Rousses on Sunday (January 19, 2025) with an XXL lead.
Hennig satisfied in fifth place
Karlsson ran a lonely race in the last eight kilometers, but didn’t let it coast, but pushed the pedal irresistibly and crossed the finish line 1:29.9 minutes ahead of her teammate Ebba Andersson. The Austrian Teresa Stadlober (+ 1:41.3 minutes) came in a strong third.
Katharina Hennig was also on course for a podium until half of the race, after which she had to drop out, but saved fifth place in the finish sprint against Kerttu Niskanen (Finland), making her the best German. Her gap to winner Karlsson: a whopping 2:21.0 minutes.
Hennig keeps up for ten kilometers
Hennig from Oberwiesenthal, who previously only knew the routes in Les Rousses from television and was celebrating a premiere, started furiously and firmly established herself in the leading group. Together with the fast Swedes Karlsson and Andersson, the Austrian Stadlober and Astrid Oeyre Slind from Norway, Hennig took the lead.
After a third of the race, the German was the first to pass the time measurement, but the pace on the difficult track in France was high. Too high. After ten kilometers, Hennig, who had missed the Tour de Ski due to illness and was celebrating her comeback in Les Rousses after a week-long break, could not keep up.
Exciting battle for second place
Karlsson and Andersson pulled away, only Stadlober kept an eye on the two, but lost contact eight kilometers from the finish. When Karlsson fired up the turbo, Andersson could no longer react either. The race was basically decided six kilometers from the finish.
Andersson lost second by second and even had to worry about second place, because Stadlober got the second wind, shone with ideal race planning and chased second place on the hilly route with a very difficult climb next to the ski jump, which Andersson saved to the finish.
Carl and Fink also in the top ten
Victoria Carl (SC Motor Zella-Mehlis) and Pia Fink (SV Bremelau) were consistently in the top ten, but were never able to intervene in the fight for the podium. But the deficit was too big, the pace was too fast, which the Scandinavians started and carried through. In the end, the two Germans crossed the finish line in seventh and eighth place, almost three minutes behind the high-flyer Karlsson.
Katherine Sauerbrey (12th/SC Steinbach-Hallenberg), Helen Hoffmann (17th/WSV Oberhof 05), and Verena Veit (35th/SC Oberstdorf) gained important racing experience over the long edges.