News

Petter Northug Jr. (NOR):

I had it on my plan to come back here, but I wanted to see how I was feeling after the race in Davos. Finally, I decided to give it a go and do the race. I really enjoyed the race. It was a good race for me with fast conditions, however, that made it difficult to break away. Therefore I had to race tactical and bet on my sprinting capacities. I needed a good position during the last 5km and I could get it. However, the others didn’t make it that easy to win this time. I will now stay here for training and this race was the perfect start into this period.

Petr Novak (CZE):

I am really happy. Finally it worked out with the podium! I was so many times fourth or fifth so I really wanted to have this podium. But for sure, everybody would like to be on the podium. We are here already a week and we tested a lot. Luckily the weather stayed the same this time so all the testing payed off. We waxed for the second lap so I had to try to stay with the other in the first round, which was pretty hard, especially since I broke a pole and lost around 50 positions. However, I hoped that our plan would work for the second round. About 1.5km before the finish I was still only in 10^th position and I was stuck but suddenly Petter moved to the left and everybody with him to I had a free space in front of me which I used to overtake around 5 people. Suddenly I was behind Petter and stayed there until the end. Of course I tried hard to overtake him but he is strong in the finish. I am glad that I could ensure the second place.

Aliaksei Ivanou (BLR):

I didn’t feel very good this morning and thought that this would be a very tough race. But somehow, I got into my race more and more and in the end I was in front, right behind Petter and Petr and it’s wonderful to finish third here today! Once, I got caught as some people in front of me fell down right in front of me and I thought I would have lost the possibility to do anything good today. But suddenly, right before the finish I saw that the right side was free and I took this opportunity. I pushed really hard and it worked out. I am really happy!

Riitta-Liisa Roponen (FIN):

Seraina started very fast and I only thought: Oh my god…will it stay that hard until the end?! But it got easier by the time and I just had to follow her. However, it was a very hard race for me today and I am really, really happy that I could win it in the end. I had to trust my sprinting. I planned to do the World Cup as well as this race and I am glad that I did it. Seraina also raced in Davos so I knew that we both had the same level of races in the legs. High altitude plus a race in this condition, that’s a great training for me for the Olympics as I am still focused on that. I am here already some time, so I got aclimatised. Over the time I saw what the organiser did to prepare the track. Sure, there were still some stones in the track, but they still did a huge work to make this race possible. I had hoped for a podium and I am really happy that it worked out!

Seraina Boner (SUI):

Of course it’s a pity that I lost the finish sprint, but I had a little stumble right ebfore the finish and so in the end Riita-Liisa was faster. Nevertheless I am very happy with the result today. I raced the 15km World Cup race in Davos yesterday, as it is my hometown and I was a little afraid about this double stress, but I am now really satisfied that I did it and that I showed good results in both races. I was a bit tired in the morning but once on my skis, the fatigue was gone. I skied the whole time together with Riita-Liisa and we were in a group with some men. The race was very controlled but if you don’t have any support, it’s hard to get away. In total it was once again wonderful to ski here in this weather and in this atmosphere, even though there was little snow in some parts of the track.

Larisa Shaidurova (RUS):

It was the first time for me that I raced such a long race and also my first FIS Marathon Cup, that’s why I had no idea what to expect. Especially because this race was also in such a high altirude. Therefore I am really really happy that I could already make it to the podium in this first race. In the beginning I was together with the first two girls but suddenly there was a little gap of around 300m and then I was alone and couldn’t get back to them. I hope that I would have some other people to ski with at some point again, but unfortunately that didn’t happen and so I had to ski the whole time alone and wasn’t able to track down the other two girls. I am now looking forward to my next race.