This Tour de Ski makes you want to go to the Nordic World Ski Championships: With Katharina Hennig, German cross-country skiing has hopes of a medal again. And Hennig is a woman for historical moments.
Shortly after Christmas, cross-country skier Katharina Hennig contacted national coach Peter Schlickenrieder and women’s discipline coach Per Nilsson. Hennig did not have good news. The 26-year-old was plagued by a cold that she caught during the Christmas holiday. Shortly before the Tour de Ski it was unclear whether the Saxon would even be able to start. Around ten days later, the same Hennig shines on the Alpe Cermis in Val di Fiemme. “I’m very happy. My family is here. There was champagne to toast. Now everything is fine!”she rejoiced on Sunday (08.01.2023). “It means a lot to me. If someone had predicted that a week and a half ago, I wouldn’t have believed it.”
“This will go down in history”
Hennig had just finished the Tour de Ski in fifth place overall and was the best German in the history of the cross-country stage race. She provided a historic moment on Saturday when she ran the 15-kilometer classic to her first World Cup victory and the first World Cup success by a German cross-country skier since 2009. “It will go down in German cross-country history”national coach Schlickenrieder also cheered.
Cross-country skiing Olympic champion Katharina Hennig has won her first World Cup at the Tour de Ski.
Hennig tactically and mentally in the world class
In the turbulent days between the Christmas holidays and the Tour de Ski final, Hennig proved that her two team Olympic medals from Beijing 2022 were no slouch. Hennig has grown tactically and mentally into a world-class athlete.
The classical music specialist had to pay enough tuition. For example, at the 2017 World Cup, when the 20-year-old broke down as the starting runner in the German women’s relay and robbed the DSV team of all hopes of a medal. Or at the home World Cup in 2021, when she was on course for a medal over 30 kilometers, but misjudged her strength again and ended up only 18th.
“Not daring to dream”
On the 2022/23 tour, she once again underlined that she had learned from her mistakes. Victory over 15 kilometers, she held back in the leading group for a long time in order to attack on the last descent and run with irresistible double pole thrust to her first victory. One “tactical feat” Schlickenrieder praised the clever racing behavior of his best athlete. Hennig himself was still incredulous hours after the race: “I’m over, over, over happy after today. I wouldn’t have dared to dream that it would end like this.”
Historical Moments
Katharina Hennig is a woman for the history books: Not just since Saturday in Val di Fiemme, the first World Cup victory of a German cross-country skier in 14 years. At the 2022 Olympics, Hennig made history as part of the silver relay that won the first Olympic medal since 2014. A little later, Hennig cheered together with Victoria Carl about Olympic gold in the team sprint – the first German cross-country gold medal since 2002 – and thanks to the legendary gold comment from sports show reporter Jens Jörg Rieck, everyone knows that “Yes, do you have the pan hot?” is not a specific technical question on a cooking show. Later that year, Hennig became the first cross-country skier to be voted Germany’s Skier of the Year.
The triumphs changed a lot in Hennig’s life. “Now there is more attention. German cross-country skiing was under the radar for a long time. The challenge is to reconcile that with training.”, said Hennig in the summer on Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk. On the other hand, as the 26-year-old, who lives and trains in Allgäu, explained: “The important things have remained. And that’s a good thing.”
On skis for the first time at the age of two
For Hennig, the most important things are family. “The center of my life is the Allgäu. But my family in the Ore Mountains is the most important thing. That’s where I recharge my soul.” Mother Karen, a former cross-country skier herself, and father Heiko, a former Nordic combined athlete, also have their share in the current successes. “I had skis under my feet for the first time when I was two years old. My parents and my first coach at SV Neudorf took on a lot back then.”
No women’s medal at the World Championships since 2003
And they will all be rooting for the medals at the World Championships in Planica, Slovenia, from the end of February. Hennig is now one of Germany’s great hopes. In the 4×5 kilometer relay there should be the first medal since 2009. In an individual race, the German women have been waiting for an individual medal since 2003 (sprint silver for Claudia Nystad and 10 km pursuit silver for Evi Sachsenbacher-Stehle).
Hennig should be particularly looking forward to the 30 kilometers classic. Because she still has an open account with the 30 World Cup kilometers since 2021. Because she confidently said after the 2022 Olympics: “A team medal is great, but I would also like to win an individual medal.” And because there has never been a German World Cup medal over 30 kilometers.
Long regeneration break
The most important “Challenge with a view to the World Cup”so national coach Schlickenrieder will now be the right way to recharge the batteries. “Be careful not to get back in too early and interrupt the regeneration.” The new women’s discipline trainer Nilsson, together with his colleague Axel Teichmann, is initially relying on internal performance tests. Only at the World Cup in Dobbiaco at the beginning of February should the entire German top team be back at the start.