Olympic champion Katharina Hennig demonstrated a strong early form at the World Cup in Ruka and secured a place among the top three. In doing so, she secured direct World Cup qualification – Janosch Brugger also managed to do that for men.
When Swede Ebba Andersson won the classic individual over ten kilometers in the Arctic Circle, team sprint Olympic champion Katharina Hennig finished third, 13.3 seconds behind. Second place went to Andersson’s teammate Frida Karlsson.
Hennig on the podium for the fourth time
Hennig is developing more and more into a “10-kilometer specialist”. In mid-November she won a test race in Olos, Finland over the same distance, now it was the fourth World Cup podium of her career. She got all of them in this discipline. The 26-year-old was in the leading group from the start in the split times and was able to keep up her pace to the finish. In the last meters she still had enough strength to be able to assert herself against the time of the Norwegian Anne Kjersti Kalvaa. Their lead over the fourth-placed team was a mere 0.2 seconds.
“I’m just so happy that it worked out like this again today“, explained Hennig at the finish: “After my Corona failure in the fall, I actually thought that I would have to readjust my requirements for the first races. But I felt good in training recently.“
Carl and Rydzek among the top 20
Victoria Carl, who won the gold medal together with Hennig in Beijing, also achieved a strong result with 13th place (+ 45.3 seconds). Coletta Rydzek was 20th (+ 1:10.3 minutes). The younger sister of Nordic Combined Johannes Rydzek was more than satisfied with her performance: “I knew I’d made significant strides in distance over the summer, but I’m really surprised that it’s enough for the top 20.“
Sofie Krehl’s time was enough for position 28 (+ 1:21.2 min). According to her own statement, she still had problems on the first lap, but also thanks to the cheering of the spectators she was able to really work out in the second half. Laura Gimmler was 31st (+ 1:25.9 min), Pia Fink was 34th (+ 1:47.7 min). Lisa Lohmann (+ 2:00.1 min) landed two places behind.
Brugger convinces at the next Norway show
The men also had to cross the ten kilometers in the classic technique in the cross-country ski run. Janosch Brugger from the German team was the first to take to the track and was initially able to set the target time. At his 22:32.1 minutes, numerous opponents bit their teeth. It was only when the Norwegians, who had started in the last third, were on the road that he gradually slipped backwards.
Showed a strong performance over 10 kilometers: Janosch Brugger
Nevertheless, Brugger was happy about a strong eighth place and the direct World Cup ticket that came with it (+ 46.0 sec). Victory went to defector Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, who was able to distance his second-placed compatriot Paal Goldberg by more than 20 seconds. As in the sprint on Friday, the third athlete on the podium on Saturday, Martin Löwström Nyenget, was a Norwegian (+ 28.0 sec).
In his first race of the winter, Friedrich Moch finished 15th (+ 57.3 seconds) at least halfway to qualifying for the World Championship. Lucas Bögl (22./+ 1:16.4 min), Albert Kuchler (25./+ 1:21.9 min) and Florian Notz (46./+ 1:37.5 min) were still able to collect World Cup points . Jonas Dobler was registered for the race, but decided not to start.