At the Nordic Ski World Championships in Seefeld, Austria, the first medals were awarded. In the sprint, Norwegian Maiken Caspersen Falla won gold, her compatriot Mari Eide (+2.84 seconds) won bronze. Second place went to Sweden's Stina Nilsson (+1.66).

On the home straight, Nilsson and Falla ran a tight race at the head, as Maja Dahlqvist started to overtake. Dahlqvist caught with her sticks in her right ski and crashed. As a result, she obstructed Nilsson, which is why Falla could defend her title by a wide margin.

The big surprise came from the German Victoria Carl. At first, contrary to expectations, it reached the semi-finals. There she reached the second place and even qualified for the final run, where she landed in fifth place.

"Unbelievable, I do not know what to say," said the 23-year-old in the ARD interview: "In the final, I was a little lacking the experience, I was so nervous - I'm still shaking." Carl moved into a sprint final for the first time in her career. The best German runner in the run was Sandra Ringwald, who retired in the semifinals.

Melee at the men

In the men's race, Johannes Høsflot Klæbo won the second gold medal for Norway. The Olympic champion finished ahead of Italian Federico Pellegrino (+0.23) and Gleb Retivych (+1.37). For the 22 year old Klæbo it is the first world title of his career. The German starters Janosch Brugger and Sebastian Eisenlauer were eliminated in qualifying. After the semi-final race, a scramble in the finish area caused a stir.

#Ustiugov attacks @JohannesHKlaebo after this incident at # Seefeld2019 pic.twitter.com/7rxZoM0MA6

- Tobi Mülhauser (@TobiMuelhauser) February 21, 2019

During the race, the Russian Sergey Ustiugov tried in a turn to pass Klæbo, who left him no room. There was a brief collision. At the finish Ustiugov, who had obviously felt disabled, physically joined the four years younger Norwegian.

All important information about the Nordic Ski World Cup 2019 in Seefeld can be found here.