Tour de Ski: “No one needs it” – later cross-country skiing cheers and harsh criticism

Friedrich Moch celebrated late, Victoria Carl ran to her personal best. But there was also criticism from national coach Peter Schlickenrieder and the German women’s coach Per Nilsson – and there were important insights for the 2026 Olympics. A conclusion from the Tour de Ski.

At the end of the Tour de Ski, the German cross-country skiers were able to really celebrate for the first time this season. Not about the victory in the Tour standings, but about the first podium of the winter for the DSV. Friedrich Moch once again demonstrated his skills on the last stage up to Alpe Cernis and finished third. A conciliatory end to a tough Tour de Ski for the German team.

Demanding Olympic dress rehearsal

“It was a tough Tour de Ski, the likes of which we haven’t experienced for a long time“, summed up national coach Peter Schlickenrieder on Sunday after the last stage. This winter the tour was different than before, all races were held in Val di Fiemme and Dobbiaco, a realignment of the event and dress rehearsal for the Winter Olympics, which will take place on these same routes will take place in 2026.

“Nobody needs ‘higher, faster, further’”

This time there was little travel stress, but in return the routes were tough. Schlickenrieder found clear words for this: “The requirements are clearly too difficult for me. There are FIS regulations that limit the number of meters in altitude and here we are almost twenty percent over. Nobody needs this ‘higher, faster, further’ because at the end of the day the best always wins“, the former Olympic medalist specifically criticized the route of the skiathlon on Saturday (January 4th, 2025).

Around half of the runners give up

Also an expression of the difficulty of the route: for men, only 58 of the original 100 runners finished the tour, for women only 31 of the original 67 runners reached the final on Alpe Cermis.

Nilsson: “Difficult to find rhythm”

The German women’s coach Per Nilsson was also dissatisfied with the skiathlon course: “It was a very demanding course, especially for the women with the 900 meter climb. The descents, on the other hand, were very easy. So it was difficult to find a rhythm and difficult to regenerate.”said the Swede. Because the tour was also intended to serve as an Olympic dress rehearsal, the German discipline coach appealed to the organizers: “The organizers should definitely rethink the route for the Olympics.”

Moch shines at the end

Some athletes were impressed by the routes, including 22-year-old Helen Hoffmann, who spoke about the hardest race of her life after the skiathlon. Others were unimpressed – especially Friedrich Moch. The Allgäu native had a difficult start to the tour and was unable to repeat second place in the overall rankings from last winter. But the entire team could now benefit from his strong podium finish at the end, Schlickenrieder also believes: “This is our first podium in this young season. It’s good for the whole team that we show we can do it. Maybe this has now broken the spell for all athletes.“

Carl with a personal best

The women also had reason to be happy. Katharina Hennig and Coletta Rydzek missed the tour due to illness, but Victoria Carl showed strong performances again, as she did in the World Cup. The 29-year-old Thuringian achieved her best tour placement to date with eighth place overall. She crossed the finish line a second ahead of the Finnish Krista Parmakoski.

Pia Fink also showed a solid performance, finishing in the top 15 several times and ultimately finishing 13th overall. Helen Hoffmann, who is only 22 years old, also completed the entire stage race for the first time and was rewarded with her best tour result of 22nd place on the final stage up to Alpe Cernis.

Positive Schlickenrieder-Conclusion

National coach Peter Schlickenrieder drew a positive conclusion from the Tour de Ski and, above all, took away important information for the 2026 Winter Olympics: “Everyone can now proudly start a regeneration week.“Then it’s time to focus again on the next highlight of the season: the Nordic World Ski Championships in Trondheim at the end of February.