Katharina Hennig and Victoria Carl sensationally won the gold medal in cross-country skiing at the Olympic Winter Games.
25-year-old Hennig and one year older Carl won the team sprint in China on Wednesday ahead of Sweden and the Russians.
For Hennig and Carl it was already the second precious metal in the title fights and the really big triumph.
Last Saturday they won silver in the relay together with Katherine Sauerbrey and Sofie Krehl.
In bright sunshine and temperatures around minus 10 degrees, the two Germans were able to match the pace of the top duos from the start. At the last exchange, Hennig was just ahead of Finland and the USA when she handed over to Carl.
The final runner defeated the favorites.
She prevailed in the final sprint and gave her team boss Peter Schlickenrieder the best present for his 52nd birthday.
Already in the semifinals, Hennig and Carl performed very confidently and won their race ahead of the USA and Austria.
Carl had only recently joined the team sprint squad.
The athlete from Zella-Mehlis replaced Sauerbrey, who was actually intended as a partner for Hennig.
Sauerbrey does not feel 100% fit and has decided not to compete in the past few days due to the high levels of stress, the German Ski Association (DSV) announced a few hours before the competition.
Carl justified her nomination with a very strong performance.
She made a decisive contribution to the two big and unexpected medal successes of the German cross-country aces at these winter games.
In 2018 in Pyeongchang, the cross-country skiers went without a medal, in 2014 in Sochi there was bronze for the women's relay with Nicole Fessel, Stefanie Böhler, Claudia Nystad and Denise Herrmann.
The men were unlucky in the team sprint.
Albert Kuchler and Janosch Brugger were eliminated in the semifinals.
Brugger lost a ski on the last lap and thus had no chance to fight for the final.