The cross-country skiing Olympic champions Victoria Carl and Katharina Hennig led the German relay team to a strong second place at the home World Cup in Oberhof.
The quartet from the German Ski Association only had to admit defeat to Sweden after 4×7.5 km. After an outstanding performance, final runner Carl almost secured the women’s relay team’s first World Cup victory since March 2007.
For Hennig and Carl, who won team sprint gold at the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, it was the fitting end to an all-round successful racing weekend. Hennig from Oberwiesenthal came second in the 20 km mass start on Saturday, while Carl (Zella-Mehlis) came fourth in her hometown of Thuringia.
“We want to have one podium per weekend, now there were two. What more could you want?” said national coach Peter Schlickenrieder on ARD: “If the race lasts one lap longer today, we’ll win that. But even so we can be proud .”
On Sunday, starting runner Katherine Sauerbrey (Steinbach-Hallenberg), Hennig, Pia Fink (Bremelau) and Carl were 17.5 seconds behind the Swedes. Sweden had already won the first round of the season at the beginning of December in Gällivare, Sweden, ahead of Germany.
Finland came third (2:11.3 minutes back), Norway only came in fifth (+3:40.4), but only had one runner from last year’s world champion quartet.
The German quartet won silver at the 2023 World Championships in Planica, but Sauerbrey was not there at the time. Fink was missing from the 2022 Olympic silver medal in Beijing.