Hediger fails in the semifinals – Tour de Ski start: Fähndrich falls and awards podium – sport

• Nadine Fähndrich gives a podium that was believed to be safe in the sprint final of the World Cup in Val Müstair and is fifth.
• Jovian Hediger puts an exclamation point with the semi-final classification.
• Dario Cologna and 6 other Swiss ski athletes fail to start the Tour de Ski in the quarterfinals.

After 3 minutes, on the descent, it happened. Nadine Fähndrich, who was in second place after a steep section of the incline, hesitantly turned right, Anamarija Lampic taking advantage and passing the Swiss.

A brief touch later, Fähndrich fell and had to bury his place on the podium, which was believed to be safe, almost 30 seconds before the finish. Swede Linn Svahn won the Tour de Ski start. Lampic crossed the finish line second, but was demoted to sixth after the race because she had hindered Faehndrich. Jessie Diggins inherited second place, Frida Karlsson third, Faehndrich came fifth.

Strong Hediger – Cologna missed the semi-finals

In the men’s category, Jovian Hediger (12th) was the only Swiss who survived to the quarterfinals, although 6 Swiss ski athletes had started there. After Hediger sought to qualify for the semi-finals practically throughout Laus, he had to tremble at the end when Russian Ivan Jakimuschkin caught up with him hard. In the semifinals, Romand had no chance.

Dario Cologna (14th) missed by a narrow margin. With his time of 3: 10.03 minutes, the hometown hero was just 15 hundredths behind Lucky Loser Michal Novak. However, Simeon Hamilton was even faster than Cologna. He missed the semi-finals even closer, by just 2 hundredths of a second.

Erwan Käser (20th) also showed an attractive performance and was only 14 hundredths slower than Cologna. Roman Schaad (19th), Valerio Grond (18th) and Janik Riebli (26th) missed more clearly, but are partly ahead of Käser because they were faster in the prologue. The sprint winner was the Italian Federico Pellegrino, followed by Alexander Bolschunow and Richard Jouve.

Van der Graaff and Meier eliminated in the quarterfinals

Laurien van der Graaff (30th) and Alina Meier (25th) were also eliminated from the women’s quarterfinals. Starting in the first heat, Van der Graaff finished sixth, 8 seconds behind the winner Maja Dahlqvist. He lacked energy and it is not his claim to have to give up in the quarterfinals. Meier ran in the second race 5.8 seconds behind the best rider Fähndrich in fifth place.