With a sovereign performance, the Swedish cross-country skiers won the pursuit in Ruka. The German starters missed the top ten. This was achieved with men by Friedrich Moch.
Frida Karlsson from Sweden won the pursuit over 20 kilometers in the Ruka. In her safe start-finish victory on Sunday (November 27th, 2022), her teammate Ebba Andersson came in second. The Norwegian Tiril Udnes Weng beat her cousin Heidi Weng in the final sprint and thus secured the last place on the podium.
The German cross-country skiers Katharina Hennig and Victoria Carl kept up with the chasing group for a long time, but could not quite follow in the final and finished 13th (+ 1:28.1 minutes) and 14th (+ 1:32.6 min). Sofie Krehl finished 30th (+ 4:52.1 min) and thus landed directly in front of Coletta Rydzek (+ 4:54.5 min). Lisa Lohmann had to settle for 36th place (+ 6:34.3 min).
Hennig and Carl have to tear it down
At the front of the field, the two Swedes Andersson and Karlsson, who left 13 seconds ahead of Hennig, set the pace right from the start and gradually increased the gap to their pursuers. Hennig was in the first group of pursuers, while a second group with Carl caught up from behind. The now ten-strong group could not make up any time on the front runners.
Germany’s Katharina Hennig leads the chasing group
With three kilometers to go, Karlsson attacked at the front, quickly breaking away from her compatriot and now running towards victory as a soloist. At about the same time, the pace in the chasing group increased as well. Hennig, who was struggling with a corona infection in the pre-season preparation, and Carl were initially unable to follow the start and had to let something tear off. So the chances for the podium were gone.
Top ten place for Friedrich Moch
In the men’s defector, Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo once again underpinned his exceptional position and celebrated his third win in the third race of the season. Like on Saturday, he prevailed over his Norwegian team-mate Paal Golberg. Third was the Swede Calle Halfvarsson.
Friedrich Moch achieved a strong tenth place after 20 kilometers with a deficit of almost nine seconds. Lucas Bögl was 14th (+ 39.6 seconds) and was happy about half the World Championship norm, which Moch completed with his second top 15 place. Albert Kuchler was 40th (+ 2:29.6 minutes). Janosch Brugger fell far behind and had to settle for 49th place (+ 3:06.9 min), Florian Notz with position 58 (+ 4:49.2 min).
Finally placed in the top 10: Friedrich Moch
Brugger can not keep up – Moch at the front
As eighth in the classic individual, Brugger had the best starting position from the point of view of the German Ski Association, but did not have a good day in the rather unloved free technique and lost time early on. Friedrich Moch went the other way. Starting 15th, he was part of a large group that worked its way up to the front.
Klaebo started there with a lead of 20 seconds, but let the pursuers catch up after a third of the distance so as not to have to run the race from the front alone. The next group, in which Lucas Bögl was also represented, followed 45 seconds behind the eleven-man lead. The decision to win was made a few hundred meters before the finish when Klaebo started and didn’t give the others a chance.