Katharina Hennig has achieved the best Olympic result for a German cross-country skier since 2006.
Over ten kilometers in the classic technique, the 25-year-old from Oberwiesenthal finished fifth on Thursday in Zhangjiakou.
Only 11.9 seconds separated them from bronze.
"I'm super happy that I was finally able to give 100 percent of my performance at a major event," said Hennig.
“I had a plan with a very conservative race schedule.
Especially in the first round, because I learned my lessons from the skiathlon.” In the first competition on Saturday, she was only 15th.
As in the skiathlon, the Norwegian Therese Johaug also triumphed over ten kilometers.
At the finish, the 33-year-old Norwegian was only 0.4 seconds ahead of Finland's Kerttu Niskanen, who won silver.
Bronze went to Krista Parmakoski, also from Finland.
She was just a tenth of a second faster than fourth-placed Russian Natalia Nepryaeva.
Olympic debutant Sauerbrey was also fully convincing and left behind Frida Karlsson from Sweden, who was second at the World Championships. "I never expected it to go so well," she said.
There are legitimate hopes for a German medal for the relay on Saturday.
"You can flirt with it, but you can't count on it.
We'll do everything we can and fight like pigs," announced Hennig.
Antonia Fräbel and Laura Gimmler, who were not scheduled for the relay, finished 28th and 33rd.
Johaug was unstoppable again five days after winning the skiathlon, but was only 0.4 seconds ahead of Finland's Kerttu Niskanen after 28:06.3 minutes.
For Johaug, who missed the 2018 Olympics due to a doping ban, it was the third gold medal of her career.
The 33-year-old is the second double Olympic champion in Beijing.
Before her, the Slovenian ski jumper Ursa Bogataj had won gold in singles and mixed.