Cross-country skiing Olympic champion Katharina Hennig was already in very good shape at the start of the World Cup winter. One day after her podium coup with third place over 10 km in the classic style, the 26-year-old from Oberwiesenthal also ran in the freestyle pursuit over 20 km for the top 3 at the World Cup opener in Ruka, Finland.
Only in the last few kilometers did Hennig, who was struggling with a corona infection in the pre-season, run out a little. Nevertheless, she was the best German runner with place 13 ahead of Victoria Carl (14th). Together, Hennig and Carl sensationally won Olympic gold in the team sprint in Beijing in February.
The Swedes dominated the start of the season: After Emma Ribom’s sprint success on Friday, Ebba Andersson and Frida Karlsson shared the victories in the distance races. On Saturday Andersson won the tenth in front of Karlsson, on Sunday Karlsson prevailed with a clear lead of 33.3 seconds. Hennig was 1:28.1 minutes behind.
Hennig had unexpectedly shone on her favorite 10 km classic route on Saturday. “After my Corona failure in the fall, I actually thought that I would have to readjust my requirements for the first races,” she said. At the Arctic Circle, however, she caught the Norwegian Anne Kjersti Kalvaa with a furious last lap and secured her fourth World Cup podium with a lead of 0.2 seconds – all in the classic ten.