Cross-country skier Friedrich Moch once again demonstrated his quality on the last day of the year. In the classic race over ten kilometers on Sunday (December 31, 2023) in Toblach, he made it into the top ten. A Finn celebrates the victory.
Moch continued to work his way forward over the course of the race and was in the top ten after half of the ten kilometers. He was able to maintain this position on the second lap and was seventh in the final standings, 44.6 seconds behind the Finnish winner Perttu Hyvarinen.
The other places on the podium went to the successful Norwegians, who won all the races before the Tour de Ski. In the absence of the sick superstar Johannes Hösflot Kläbo, Erik Valnes came second (16.2 seconds) ahead of his compatriot Harald Östberg Amundsen (+17.2 seconds).
I may have been sick the previous week
“I had a cold last week and couldn’t train for four days, but I got well again on time. I’m even happier that it worked out so well today“, explained Moch after his best World Cup placement in a classic race on ZDF. Last year he had already caused a stir with eighth place overall at the Tour de Ski. He now wants to advance into these regions again.
Notz, Bögl and Stölben among the top 30
The other athletes from the German Ski Association also showed decent performances in the last race of 2023. Florian Notz came 14th (+1:02.8 minutes). Lucas Bögl ended up in 22nd position (+1:14.3 min), just ahead of Jan Stölben, who is actually a sprinter, and who came in 26th (+1:18.8 min).
Anian Sossau finished the competition in 38th place (+1:29.7 min), Marius Kastner in 61st place (+2:16.3 min).
Things continue on New Year’s Day
Cross-country skiers don’t have much time to rest and enjoy the new year. On the first day of the new year, the 20 km freestyle pursuit is on the program at the end of the races in Toblach. The entourage then moves on to Switzerland, where stages 4 (freestyle sprint) and 5 (20 km classic pursuit) take place in Davos on January 3rd and 4th. Afterwards we head back to Italy, where there is a mass start over 15 km (classic) in Val di Fiemme and the final stage up to Alpe Cermis.