Krüger, two years ago in Oberstdorf behind the defending champion Alexander Bolschunov, who was excluded this year because of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, prevailed 12.2 seconds ahead of the sprint world champion Kläbo. Röthe, the 2019 Skiathlon Champion and this time in second place for a long time, finished third, 14.1 seconds behind Krüger. The best non-Norwegian was Swede William Poromaa, who lost out to Goldberg in the sprint to the finish, in fifth – 46.4 seconds behind the winner.
Vermeulen, the only Austrian in the competition with 15 km in the classic and 15 km in the skating technique at the start, was in the top 20 for a long time, but had to pay tribute to the difficult conditions in the finish. In the end, the 23-year-old from Styria was in 29th place, 5:15.9 minutes behind the new world champion Krüger. At the Olympic Games in Beijing last year, Vermeulen finished 16th.
“There are days when you lose and there are days when the others win,” said Vermeulen, known to be moody. “It didn’t go according to plan, the whole preparation. The others aren’t nose picks, and when the hammer comes then, unfortunately, things happen quickly. It was just pointless in the end.” He couldn’t push anymore, he was empty. “And when you’re empty, you don’t even get where it hurts. The material was good, unfortunately I wasn’t.” He now had two World Championships left: “Be a little angry today, tomorrow the sun will rise again.”
Kruger settles down after half
The lead stayed together for more than half of the race, before Kläbo fell away and Krüger, most recently von Röthe, pulled away. The 29-year-old Krüger brought his lead to the finish and won his second World Cup medal in skiathlon after silver in 2021. At that time, as well as a year ago at the Olympics, the Russian Bolschunov won, this time because of Russia’s war of aggression that began a year ago Ukraine not eligible. Kläbo caught up with Röthe again and snagged his first medal in the skiathlon with a strong finish.
Nordic World Ski Championships in Planica
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