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Victoria Carl at the World Cup in Finland
Photo: Vesa Moilanen / AP
Victoria Carl gave the German cross-country skiers their second podium finish at the World Cup in Lahti, Finland.
She narrowly missed out on victory.
The 28-year-old only had to admit defeat to local hero Krista Pärmäkoski in the 20-kilometer race in the classic technique.
Carl was 1.9 seconds away from the winner.
The Finnish Kerttu Niskanen came third.
Olympic champion Carl, who won a World Cup race for the first time in Trondheim in December, was ahead of Pärmäkoski after 15 kilometers.
However, in the final laps the Finn moved to the lead and secured her first World Cup victory in six years.
Carl on the trail of Evi Dingebacher-Stehle
In the overall World Cup, Carl could still achieve the historically best result of a German runner.
With 1752 points she is in fourth place overall, behind Jessie Diggins (USA/2320 points), who has no chance this time, and the Swedes Linn Svahn (2093) and Frida Karlsson (1906).
Evi Dingebacher-Stehle also reached fourth place as the best German woman to date in the 2002/03 and 2005/06 seasons.
For Carl it was his fifth individual podium finish in Finland this winter.
This means she has established herself at the top of the world.
This time, teammate Katharina Hennig had nothing to do with the fight for the top places.
With Hennig, Carl became Olympic champion in the team sprint in 2022.
On Friday, Hennig and Laura Gimmler finished third in the team sprint.
There are six World Cup races left.
mlb/sid/dpa