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Langlauf
The five Austrian participants were eliminated from the standings in the sprint competitions at the start of the Tour de Ski on Friday. For model racer Teresa Stadlober in particular, things did not go as planned at Val Müstair in the first race of the new year 2021.
In the ÖSV line-up, Lisa Unterweger (36th), as well as Mika Vermeulen (41st), Michael Föttinger (53rd) and Philipp Leodolter (66th) finished prematurely. The victories at the start of the Tour de Ski secured the Swede Linn Svahn and the Italian Federico Pellegrino.
For Stadlober it was a bitter start to the new year in the skating career. Although he is not a specialist in this discipline, the 27-year-old was 22.15 seconds behind the Swedish Maja Dahlqvist, who was first in the classification. Stadlober only finished 56th out of 66 participants, almost eight seconds behind 30th place, which would have allowed for promotion. Unterweger, on the other hand, was just 1.5 seconds from the quarter-finals after 1.4 kilometers.
Vermeulen, who, like his colleagues Stadlober and Unterweger, will compete the entire course, fell 3.35 seconds from 30th place in the men’s category. Föttinger, who last surprised at the Dresden World Cup with the twelfth best qualifying time and eighteenth place as a newcomer, was far from progressing in Switzerland with 5.6 seconds, as was the ÖSV champion and debutant in the Leodolter World Cup.
Sprint specialists prevail
In the top six final, Svahn skated to his fifth World Cup victory. She beat Jessica Diggins (USA). Slovenian Anamarija Lampic, originally second, was relegated to sixth place due to a competitor handicap.
For men, sprint specialist Pellegrino, second at the 2018 Olympics and World Champion in 2017, achieved his third consecutive World Cup success. Russian Tour champion Alexander Bolschunow finished second in the absence of the Norwegians, underscoring his role as the favorite for the 15th edition, which runs until 10 January.
