Team sprint Olympic champion Victoria Carl made it to the podium in an individual race in the World Cup for the first time. In Sweden she relegated several of the strong hosts to their places.
Victoria Carl achieved the first World Cup individual podium of her career in Östersund, Sweden. The Thuringian came third in the 10 kilometer freestyle on Sunday (December 10, 2023). In her 135th World Cup race, the 28-year-old was only beaten by Jessie Diggins from the USA and Heidi Weng from Norway in 27:34.7 minutes.
Carl ran a courageous race and was in the top 5 over the entire distance. With her strong race, she left, among others, the distance World Cup leader Ebba Andersson from Sweden (ninth place), her compatriot Emma Ribom (tenth place) and the US star Rosie Brennan (fifth) behind her.
The victory went to World Cup leader Jessica Diggins from the USA. The world champion at the same distance was unbeatable in 27:05.6 minutes. She won clearly ahead of Wenig (+23.0 seconds) and Carl (+29.1 seconds).
Men: Nice strong eight
Before the women’s race, Friedrich Moch was able to celebrate a top 10 placement in the men’s 10 kilometer race. The 23-year-old from Isny came eighth on Sunday and was the second best non-Norwegian. In the Scandinavians’ five-fold victory, Moch was 51.1 seconds behind winner Harald Amundsen
Emma Ribom from Sweden had already won the women’s sprint race on Saturday. From a German perspective, Coletta Rydzek and Sofie Krehl made it to the quarterfinals, but were eliminated there. In the men’s category, Johannes Hoesflot Kläbo took his first world titlecup-Victory this season. From the German team, only Anian Sossau and Jan Stölben started, but failed early.
Albert Kuchler left Sweden early after a corona infection – as did the German cross-country skiers Katharina Hennig and Laura Gimmler.