Tour de Ski
Cross-country skier Carl came second twice – Moch sixth
The German cross-country skier of the hour: Victoria Carl. photo
© Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/dpa
Victoria Carl is the German cross-country skier of the moment. Two podium finishes during the first three stages of the Tour de Ski put her in second place overall.
The American clearly leads the overall ranking ahead of Carl. After a rest day on Tuesday, the tour continues on Wednesday with a sprint in Davos, Switzerland.
Carl started the race seven seconds behind Diggins, but was unable to keep up with the US athlete’s pace. Instead, Carl delivered a strong tactical performance, taking turns well with the Swede Linn Svahn and keeping the pursuers at a distance. When the Swede had to drop out, Carl made it onto the podium as a soloist, 46.5 seconds behind Diggins.
“It’s nice that there are also international tactics that work,” said Carl about her collaboration with Svahn. The German team trained with the Swedes several times in the summer.
Hennig falls back
Katharina Hennig, team sprint Olympic champion with Carl, came fifth over 10 kilometers just two weeks after her corona infection. She was unable to defend this on New Year’s Day and fell back to 16th position. They are now 2:24.2 minutes behind in the overall standings.
Previously, Friedrich Moch from Isny had created an excellent starting position for the rest of the tour with a sixth place in the men’s race. One day after finishing seventh over 10 kilometers in classic style, the Isny native crossed the finish line on New Year’s Day 1:05.5 minutes behind winner Harald Amundsen in the 22-kilometer pursuit competition. The Norwegian took over the overall leader’s golden jersey from his teammate Erik Valnes, who won on New Year’s Eve.
Moch once again delivered a courageous race in the chasing group, was very active and earned sixth place. “I didn’t think I would be sixth overall after the first three stages,” said Moch, who wants to try to lose as little time as possible in the sprint in Davos. “Then I can attack again on the last three stages,” said the 23-year-old. Lucas Bögl also showed strong, moving up from 30th to 13th place. Florian Notz finished the race in 23rd place after two crashes.