Tenth World Cup victory for Frida Karlsson, twelfth victory for Paal Goldberg. The Swede and the Norwegian celebrated on Sunday after 20 kilometers in classic technique. Friedrich Moch from the German team was able to convince the men. In the women’s category, no German athlete made it into the top 10, Katharina Hennig came eleventh.
The victories in the 20-kilometer cross-country skiing race in Canmore, Canada go to Sweden and Norway. In the competitions on Sunday (February 11, 2024), Frida Karlsson initially prevailed among the women. In the men’s event, Norwegian Paal Goldberg later defeated his compatriot Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo in a thrilling finish.
Women: Karlsson ahead of Niskanen – Hennig eleventh
In her race, Karlsson narrowly beat Kerttu Niskanen in a thrilling final sprint. The Finn Niskanen had to admit defeat by 1.6 seconds. The Norwegian Heidi Weng came third (+ 8.1 seconds). Katharina Hennig was the best German in eleventh place.
Hennig stays ahead for 13 kilometers
Hennig was able to hope for a top position for about two thirds of the race. From the start, the Oberwiesenthaler was in the top group of around 40 runners at the start. Hennig ran the race from the front and was constantly in fourth or fifth place. After about 13 kilometers, the 27-year-old was no longer able to keep up with the pace at the front as smoothly. In a climb before the time measurement at kilometer 14.1, the Saxon woman had to pull away.
At the finish, Hennig was eleventh, 45.7 seconds behind the winner. Hennig was 0.2 seconds ahead of teammate Victoria Carl, who finished twelfth. Carl had already had to abandon the race around 100 kilometers west of Calgary and had fallen back to 15th place. In the final phase she fought her way back forward.
Laura Gimmler (17th/+ 2:08.5 minutes), Katherine Sauerbrey (20th/+ 2:09.5 minutes) and Lisa Lohmann (21st/+ 2:12.4 minutes) were also unable to place at the top. .
Men: Goldberg stronger than Klaebo – Moch ninth
In the men’s race that followed, Paal Goldberg narrowly beat Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo. The already 33-year-old Goldberg won by 0.2 seconds. The Norwegians celebrated a quadruple success: Behind Goldberg and Klaebo, Matthis Stenshagen came third (+ 0.5 seconds) – and thus his first World Cup podium. Overall World Cup leader Harald Östberg Amundsen came fourth (+0.6 seconds).
Moch for the eighth top 10 placement of the winter
As before with the women, the German men were also unable to intervene in the fight for the podium places. Friedrich Moch came in a strong ninth place (+ 2.5 seconds) as the best member of national coach Peter Schlickenrieder’s team.
Moch was able to stay in the leading group of around 25 runners throughout the entire race. At around kilometer 17.5 it seemed as if he couldn’t keep up with the pace from the front – Moch fell back to 15th place, almost ten seconds behind. But the 23-year-old fought back and was back at the front shortly before the finish. He was no longer able to follow the strong finish of Goldberg, Klaebo and Co. In ninth place, he was already able to look forward to his eighth top 10 placement of the season.
The other Germans missed the top 25. Florian Notz was 28th (+ 1:33.2 minutes), Florian Knopf was 31st (+ 1:51.9 minutes). Lucas Bögl ended the race early.