- Valerio Grond and Roman Furger compete in the semi-finals at the start of the Tour de Ski and secure places in the top ten with places 8 and 10.
- For Swiss women, starting is a disappointment. The fastest up front, Nadine Fondrich (21) and Lorient van der Graaf (13) failed in the quarter-finals.
- Johannes Klapow (Northern Norway) won the day in Linzerheide with the men. For women, you can’t go around Jessica Diggins (USA).
It was one of those moments where I “trained all year,” Romain Forger said after the race. In the quarter-finals, the 31-year-old finished second in the semi-finals in the home race behind teammate Valerio Grund, who was ten years younger than him. Neither of them got a chance there, but they both ended up in the top ten.
The race was less positive for Janick Ripley. The 23-year-old landed on his stomach after the climb and was unable to confirm his sixth place off the lead. Team captain Jovian Heidegger is only hoping to advance to the semi-finals in third place after losing.
Roman Shad and Erwan Kasser had no chance in the heat, and Dario Colonna even missed the knockout stage. Favorite Johannes Klapow stayed on tour in a class of his own. The Norwegian decided to start the race ahead of the French Richard Goff and Lukas Chanavat.
Unlucky Swiss women
Fastest up front, Nadine Vanderich, had to give up her hopes of making it to the podium after just over a minute. She lost her balance in a curve and fell. The 26-year-old was not able to close the resulting gap and once again found himself in the quarter-finals at Linzerheide.
Nor was the Swiss second among the top 30 lucky women. Unlike her teammate, Laurien Van der Graaff stayed on her feet in the heat, but missed the semi-finals by a hundredth. American Jessica Diggins scored the first win this season, ahead of Mathilde Myhrvold (North) and Anamareja Lambek (SLO).
So it continues
The classic over 15km for men and over 10km for women will follow in Linzerhead on Wednesday. SRF will broadcast the second stage of the 6-stage Tour de Ski from 1:30pm (women) and 3:05pm (men) live.
“Creator. Troublemaker. Reader. Tv nerd. Proud beer advocate. Unable to type with boxing gloves on. Introvert. Certified zombie practitioner. Thinker.”
More Stories
Party in the middle third – Richard shorthanded as a basis: 5-1 win over Latvia – Sports
Andrea Glauser will be penalized for swallowing in the final
American Football: The sport that brings America together?