Stocek wins heartbeat final against Bing at Vasaloppet China 2024
The luck was on Fabian Stocek’s side in Vasaloppet China 2024, the 22nd edition, in Changchun. The 30-year old Czech skier beat Germany’s Thomas Bing in a hotly contested sprint after two loops of 25 km in a sunny, mild but windy Jingyuetan Park.
New Course Record at Vasaloppet China 2024
The duo distanced themselves from a group of six in the second lap and finished in a fast time of 2:16:18. With this, they were beating the course record of Zhu Mingliang (2:16:29) set in the 2021 edition. The women’s 50 km race was also quite tight. But Changchun’s own Zhao Xinle managed to stay ahead of Sigrid Bye from Norway and Mariya Lyuft from Kazakhstan by just under three minutes after a fast start.
The 50km, 25km and 2,5km races took off at 10 am with over 750 serious skiers from 26 countries. It was the first edition since the covid crisis with international Worldloppet skiers traveling to the Vasaloppet China again.
While windy, the conditions for the race were good with temperatures even rising above zero degrees. This does not happen often around this time of year. It also enticed many people to come to Jingyuetan Park to attend and watch the race on-site.
6 skiers forming the leading group on lap one
Thomas Bing and Fabian Stocek, China’s En Te Ma Ke, Germany’s Christian Winker, Italy’s Stefano Mich and Kazakhstan’s Nail Bashmakov set the pace early on and developed a nice gap to the rest in the first lap of 25 km. China’s main XC skiing hero and a double winner of Vasaloppet China in the past, Wang Qiang, did not take part this year so En Te Ma Ke had the pressure on his shoulders to try and get a podium for the home country.
As Stocek and Bing had a very close sprint in the final 250 metres with changing positions until the final 40 metres, Christian Winker took third place ahead of En Te Ma Ke. Stefano Mich grabbed fifth.
Men Results Vasaloppet China 2024
- Fabian Stocek (CZE) 2:16:18
- Thomas Bing (GER) 2:16:19
- Christian Winker (GER) 2:19:56
Women Results Vasaloppet China 2024
- Zhao Xinle (CHN) 2:51:35
- Sigrid Bye (NOR) 2:54:17
- Mariya Lyuft (KAZ) 2:54:45
