Johaug celebrates victory on new Oberstdorf course
Jan 25, 2020·Cross-Country
Oberstdorf in Germany will host the Nordic World Ski Championships in 2021. Todays Skiathlon competitions were the first test for the FIS Cross-Country athletes on the redesigned tracks. Therese Johaug, Ingvild Flugstad Østberg and Theresa Stadlober conquered the podium on the womens' side and gave themselves a motivation boost for the races in a years time.
Oberstdorf can look back on an intensive period of preparation for the upcoming World Championships in 2021. The course profiles as well as the infrastructure around the area have been adjusted. The outcome is a demanding track that find a lot of great feedback amongst the international top athletes. The first and only test race of a distance competition before the actual World Championships took place today with the Skiathlon. The worlds leading female distance expert, Therese Johaug, had a big smile on her face when crossing the finish line in first position.
Johaug set off to the courses in her own powerful fashion. Nevertheless she was chased by her strong team colleagues Ingvild Flugstad Østberg and Heidi Weng as well as Theresa Stadlober (AUT), Ebba Andersson (SWE), Natalia Nepryaeva (RUS) and the Finnish power team of Kerttu Niskanen and Krista Pärmäkoski. Østberg took over most of the leading work for the successor group and was rewarded with the second rank in the finish, +15.5 seconds behind Johaug. With a gap of +15.6 seconds, Stadlober ensured the remaining spot on the podium despite having a tight finish with Ebba Andersson who ends +0.1 seconds off the podium.
