Olympia: German cross-country skiers surprisingly get relay silver – sport

Sophie Krehl was surprised. Because this was the Olympics. That traditional elite meeting around which the really big legends are entwined. When older, great skiers talk about the games, it’s usually about the maximum, the podium, the medal, the place in one’s own sporting history, which goes back very far in cross-country skiing. In any case, the young Olympic debutant Krehl was ready on Saturday before the last round of the women’s relay as the final runner and right at the front.

“Being the first to go onto the track was a new situation,” Krehl said afterwards. Also new was the situation that Krehl had hedged silver, if not gold. Which probably didn’t matter to the quartet coached by Peter Schlickenrieder, because – if at all – they would have been satisfied with bronze. After years of failure, after a failed home world championship in Oberstdorf, it was about sending a signal to all critics.

And that second place between gold, which eventually went to Russia, and bronze (Sweden) might have been spot on that day too. The cross-country skiing community of the German Ski Association and the quartet Katherine Sauerbrey, Katharina Hennig, Victoria Carl and Sophie Krehl will rave about it for a long time, about how well everything went and how incredibly close it was in the end, so close that Krehl was so felt something like “fear of death” and in the end the team boss Peter Schlickenrieder fought back tears.

The first clue: starting runner Katherine Sauerbrey is keeping up with the leaders

“I think that’s what cross-country skiing is all about,” said Schlickenrieder. It was planned to use this day to prove that cross-country skiing has a future as a top-class sport in the German association. Schlickenrieder therefore deliberately kept throwing in a medal as a goal in the conversation. Just as he also mentioned that the substructure remains sustainable for the future. And cross-country skiing will not be abolished by the lack of snow either, he recently presented this opinion with very good arguments. And finally, his training concept should also be confirmed by the mature athlete with a medal, which was now successful from the start.

Katherine Sauerbrey, 24, was supposed to be the lead runner. She had also already proven herself in the classic race over ten kilometers, now she completed her part without any problems and mastered the task: stay tuned, keep up with the ski ends of the big cross-country skiing nations. At that point it was not yet clear that two of the all-time favorites would suffer a heavy defeat: the teams from Finland and Norway did not make it onto the podium.

So Sauerbrey had kept up, then Katharina Hennig’s quarter of an hour struck. For Russia, Natalia Neprjajewa was now in the lead, Hennig just behind, followed by the current two-time Beijing winner Therese Johaug, who now had to give everything to close the gap. Johaug worked and braced and pushed, in the end she couldn’t get close to the two, the lead of around 20 seconds remained. And then it actually happened: On the last long loop, at the entrance to the large finish area, Hennig went into the next lane and overtook Neprjajewa – and the DSV quartet was suddenly, yes, on the gold rank.

That was also successful: the Germans were faster on the descent – thanks to better skis

No one was ahead of them – most of them had probably experienced that in youth races or national eliminations, but this was the Olympic relay. And such a sign is valuable for motivating a team. It was probably the last proof for the two who came and who might have recognized: We don’t have to hide at all.

In any case, Carl jumped up and away – now using free technique, followed by the Russian, the distance between the five-strong field of pursuers remained surprising, but wasn’t really reassuring either. In general, it was towards a decision, the question arose when the Germans would fall behind, and yes, Carl had to pay tribute to their pace on the first climb after the change and was overtaken. The cross-country skiing world seemed to follow the well-known laws again, however: these often include well-prepared German skis and indeed, when Tatjana Sorina finished the descent, Carl was behind again and even ran past her. More so, she expanded the lead. Result of the third part of the season: Sophie Krehl, the final runner, went into the final round as the leader, again around 20 seconds.

So Schlickenrieder’s philosophy of being an independent athlete worked. The team boss knows that a successful athlete is less the result of external training plans, specifications, pressure and coercion, but vice versa: “He has to be absolutely convinced of what he is doing. And he can only do that if he decides for himself and takes on this responsibility accepts.” All four runners demonstrated this at the Zhangjiakou cross-country track on Friday. They slowed down and increased the pace where they saw fit, making the most of their power. There is no other way to explain this longed-for success.

Open detailed view

Above all, this succeeded Krehl, whose strength dwindled more and more in the second half of their distance. Behind her, the opponents stomped up like two locomotives, Krehl could not defy this pace. At such a moment, when an athlete can be swallowed up on the cross-country ski run and also the whole, beautiful success of the team – Krehl may actually have had a sense of doom and gloom, “almost mortal fear”, as she said.

Then it was the last half round before the home stretch and Krehl could already see her sure conquerors Jonna Sundling and Krista Parmakoski in the corner of her eye on the left, and then she summoned up the last of her energy to slip two or three meters ahead of her pursuers to the finish. falling in the snow, and eventually coming to your senses and knowing that this German quartet is now part of an Olympic legend story itself.