Suitcases gone, many sick: Things are getting worse for the Germans ahead of the Ski World Championships
Laura Gimmler is sick.
(Photo: dpa)
The first cross-country sprint decisions are about to take place at the Nordic World Ski Championships in Trondheim. But the German team is struggling with a lot of problems: the sprint specialist in particular is out at short notice. Not everything is going smoothly with the luggage either and the courses are "brutally hard".
No suitcases, but several sick people: The German cross-country skiing team is struggling with a lot of problems shortly before the start of the Nordic World Ski Championships in Trondheim. Laura Gimmler, who is at least one of the extended group of favorites, is out of her specialty discipline, the classic sprint, on Thursday, and Coletta Rydzek, who is also highly rated, is significantly weakened. In addition, the German athletes had to improvise because 40 pieces of luggage were missing.
"It hit us pretty hard. Almost the entire sprint team had a fever," said cross-country skiing head coach Peter Schlickenrieder at the Granasen Ski Center. "Coletta is now healthy again, but she's not back to full health after her illness. It's really bitter for Laura, she was in a really great mood."
Gimmler from Oberstdorf, who achieved a podium place for the first time in her career at the end of January in Cogne, Italy, when she came third in the classic sprint, would have started the race on Thursday (qualification 10 a.m./knockout rounds 12.15 p.m./ZDF and Eurosport) with at least a chance of reaching the final, but contracted an infection on site.
"Tracks are brutally hard"The entire German team and the majority of the other nations are accommodated in the huge Scandic Hotel in Trondheim, and everyone eats in a huge dining room. The German team is taking precautionary measures like in Corona times.
In addition to Rydzek, who fell ill after the last World Cup race in Falun and had previously sprinted into the top six twice, team sprint Olympic champion Victoria Carl, Helen Hoffmann and Sofie Krehl will start in the first of 25 World Cup decisions. The latter has also recently been struggling with health problems and has only just left "quarantine". For all-rounder Carl, it is the rather pressure-free start to a World Cup with high hopes. The Thuringian is eligible for all distances, but is expected to take it easy, just like Katharina Hennig, with whom she won Olympic gold in Beijing in 2022.
"The courses are brutally hard, so we have to weigh things up," says Schlickenrieder, who is therefore more likely to focus on the team competitions: "It will be very, very difficult to win an individual medal. To be fair, the women's relay is our only realistic chance of a medal."
Among the men, Friedrich Moch is the only one who can be expected to achieve a top 10 placing in the individual races. Like several other team members, the Allgäu native had to contend with the temporary loss of luggage. "Fri ran today with a pink hat, borrowing the hat from Laura," said Schlickenrieder. "It used to be a real drama. Now we go from room to room, and then we have everything together in half an hour. That's team strength."
Source: ntv.de, dbe/sid
n-tv.de
