Astonished Carl storms to cross-country skiing sensation
Victoria Carl achieves the gold sensation at the Olympic Games in Beijing. Now she surprises again and celebrates her first World Cup victory in impressive style. It was the first individual success for a German woman outside of stage races for almost 20 years.
Victoria Carl slid around excitedly on the reindeer skin in the leader's box, repeatedly slapping her hands in front of her face - and after 20 minutes of anxious waiting, she was finally able to fall into the arms of her team colleagues: 669 days after the golden cross-country skiing miracle in Beijing, the Olympic champion landed another major coup and celebrated her first World Cup victory in Trondheim.
"I don't know how I did it. It's so crazy, the whole team is on fire! I'm over the moon," said the 28-year-old from Thuringia after she didn't give the assembled world elite the slightest chance in the interval start race over 10 kilometers in classic style. After a dream run from start to finish with perfect legs and perfect equipment, Carl had a 19.6 second lead over Rosie Brennan from the USA. Sweden's skiathlon world champion Ebba Andersson (+21.6) came third.
First individual victory since 2004
"I didn't start that fast. But when I heard the split times from the coaches on the way, it felt incredible," said Carl. It was the first individual victory for a German woman in the World Cup outside of stage races for almost 20 years. Claudia Nystad had last triumphed over 15 kilometers in Otepää in January 2004. After that, Nystad won the sprint at the 2008 and 2009 World Cup finals and Katharina Hennig won the 15 km stage at the 2023 Tour de Ski in Val di Fiemme.
Hennig, Olympic team sprint champion with Carl in Beijing in 2022, was absent in Trondheim due to the consequences of a coronavirus infection - the 10 kilometers in classic style are actually her domain. Now her colleague triumphed there, who had already made the sensation perfect at the Olympics with her finish sprint on the last lap. Carl started the race early with bib number 36 and finished 47.2 seconds ahead of the Norwegian Astrid Oeyre Slind, who had been leading until then. The latter had replaced Carl's team colleague Pia Fink - Fink also achieved a top result with seventh place.
Unexpected victory despite a strong week
It was clear early on that no one would be able to get close to Carl. But it was only when World Cup leader Jessie Diggins from the USA with bib number 56, who ultimately finished fourth, missed the German's top time that the pressure fell off Carl. Her maiden victory came unexpectedly - even though Carl had already shown outstanding performances recently.
The previous week, she had finished third in the 10 km freestyle in Östersund, Sweden, and finished fifth in the sprint in Trondheim on Friday and sixth in the skiathlon on Saturday. "Now I will recover well for the Tour de Ski," said Carl. This begins on December 30 and is the highlight of the season this winter. The World Championships will not be held again until 2025 - on "Vici's" new favorite course in Trondheim.
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Victoria Carl's impressive victory in Trondheim marked her first individual World Cup win outside of stage races for Germany in nearly 20 years, since Claudia Nystad's triumph in Otepää in 2004. Additionaly, Carl's performance at the World Championships in Trondheim will be highly anticipated, given her recent success and the city being her new favorite course.
Source: www.ntv.de
