‘Rocket’ Rydzek secures 'dream' double with Team Sprint victory for Germany in Lahti

What a weekend for Coletta Rydzek (GER). On Friday, she claimed her first FIS Cross-Country World Cup victory by winning the Women’s Sprint Freestyle with a spectacular late burst. On Saturday, she proved her class by leading Germany I to victory in the Team Sprint Free alongside Laura Gimmler, who claimed her first World Cup victory in the process.

In Cogne, Italy earlier this season, Finland’s victory was the first time Sweden had failed to win a Women’s Team Sprint in the World Cup since 2021, when Slovenia triumphed in Ulricehamn, Sweden. With Sweden having also won 12 of the last 16 Women’s Team Sprint races, they would start Saturday’s race as favourites, despite missing arguably their two best sprinters in Jonna Sundling and Linn Svahn – who won in Lahti last season.

Such is the strength of the Swedish women’s sprinting, though, that Maja Dahlqvist and Johanna Hagstroem were still a heavyweight pairing. They would be looking to make amends for Cogne, where they finished second to Finland ahead of Rydzek and Gimmler.

Buoyed by Rydzek’s victory on Friday, Gimmler declared the Team Sprint as her “favourite race” after morning qualifying. She said: “Coletta’s win [on Friday] was so great, I am so happy for her. We have trained together the whole year and pushed each other very hard, so it’s also a success for me.

“The plan today is that I do my best in position one and that she has a good position for the last loop and then maybe she can be the rocket at the end.”

And that’s exactly how it played out.

On a course that offered few opportunities to overtake or break away, the tactics seemed clear: stay out of trouble, ensure clean changeovers and wait for your opportunity.

It was Sweden 1 who went into the final lap in the lead, just ahead of the strong-looking Switzerland line-up of Anja Weber and Nadine Fahndrich – a winner in Tallinn, Estonia earlier in the week – and Italy 1 duo Caterina Ganz and Federica Cassol.

Germany, though, were just one second off the pace, and with all three of her World Cup podiums coming on this course, Rydzek clearly feels confident on the Lahti layout.

Unlike on Friday, however, she came into the final corner in the lead, with Dahlqvist in her slipstream. Would this prove costly for the German? Certainly not, she powered away in the home straight, crossing the line 0.17 seconds ahead of the Swede, and was greeted with an enthusiastic embrace from Gimmler, before the pair collapsed to the snow in exhaustion.

Fahndrich held off Kristine Stavaas Skistad (NOR) in a photo finish to complete the podium. It summed up a frustrating season for the Norwegian sprint powerhouse.

This season’s World Cup sprint champion Jasmi Joensuu, racing alongside Jasmin Kahara, finished back in ninth, leaving the home fans disappointed.

The same could not be said for the German duo.

“It’s crazy,” Gimmler said. “It’s my first  World Cup victory so thank you [to Rydzek] for really good teamwork and yeah, I enjoyed that.

“My plan was to save energy on the first two loops then work hard on the third one, but that was not so easy because there was so much traffic . It was a very chaotic race today but I’m happy, we had no crash, no big problems so it was possible to win.”

Rydzek added: “It still feels unbelievable that I won two days in a row. I wasn’t sure what was left behind after yesterday, and I had a little bit of a sleepless night. But now to take the win with Laura, it’s a dream.”

So how would they celebrate?

“We have plans!” Rydzek admitted. “We have some invitations for Jasmi’s [Joensuu] sprint Crystal Globe party tonight so it’s nice to end the season there, with a victory or two and sunshine. Perfect!”

The 2024-25 FIS Cross-Country World Cup season concludes on Sunday in Lahti with the Women’s and Men’s 50km Classic races.

Click here for the full results from Lahti.