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Cross-country skier Victoria Carl: 19.6 seconds ahead
Photo: Terje Pedersen / dpa
Cross-country skier Victoria Carl has celebrated her first victory in the World Cup. The 28-year-old Olympic team sprint champion won the ten-kilometer classic technique ahead of Rosie Brennan from the USA and Sweden's Ebba Andersson. Carl's lead over second place was 19.6 seconds after an impressive mileage.
At the finish line in Trondheim, Norway, where the next World Championships will take place in 2025, Carl sank to the ground, completely exhausted. Her teammates were already congratulating her, but Carl still had to wait for the official result. In the chair for the current leader, she repeatedly clapped her hands in front of her face in disbelief.
First individual victory in the World Cup in almost 20 years
Carl had won the gold medal at the 2022 Olympics in the team sprint. In the skiathlon, the German athlete had finished sixth on Saturday. She had finished fifth in the sprint. Just last weekend, Carl finished third and finished on the podium for the first time in an individual World Cup.
It was the first individual victory for a German woman in the World Cup outside of stage races in almost 20 years. The last time Claudia Nystad triumphed was in January 2004 in Otepää over 15 kilometres. After that, Nystad won the 2008-kilometre Sprint at the 2009 and 2023 World Cup Finals, as did Katharina Hennig at the 15 Tour de Ski in Val di Fiemme.
BKA/SID