Victoria Carl (left) and Katharina Hennig (2nd from right) sensationally won in front of the Swedes with Jonna Sundling (right) and the Russian runners around Natalia Neprajewa.
Photo: AFP/OdD Andersen
“Madness, madness, madness” – cross-country skier Katharina Hennig couldn’t stop screaming in the finish area of Zhangjiakou. Shortly after the finish line, her teammate Victoria Carl was waiting for her, who just caused the biggest sensation of these winter games with an unbelievable energy performance. Then the two fell into each other’s arms as Olympic champions – and then, stunned, into the snow. It was the first gold medal for the German cross-country skiing team in twelve years.
“I stood at the finish line and thought: That’s completely crazy,” explained Hennig. “At the moment we are emotionally completely overwhelmed by what we have achieved there.” After all, Hennig had never been able to win in the World Cup. Carl didn’t even stand on the podium. But now she won a dramatic thriller for gold by a tiny 0.17 seconds against Swede Jonna Sundling, who had secured gold in the individual sprint a few days earlier. How Carl managed this feat against the best sprinter in the world, she didn’t really know later: »I just thought: push, push, push! I had completely switched off my head, only my arms worked.«
Her height of 1.78 meters, which is often a disadvantage for a cross-country skier, and her upper arms, which had been strengthened with a lot of strength training, became an advantage at that moment. On the long home stretch she pushed past the Russians and the Swede, who ended up third. Bronze would have been a huge surprise for the German duo, but gold was a sensation in the fight against the otherwise superior cross-country skiing nations of the world.
The rest was boundless cheering from the entire team, laughter and jumping for the two Olympic champions on the podium and many tears from team boss Peter Schlickenrieder on his 52nd birthday. ‘It’s a brutal dream. I could cry all day. You couldn’t ask for a nicer birthday present,” commented the German team boss. Almost four years ago, he began his development work in German cross-country skiing, which was then in decline. In endurance sports, however, it is a particularly difficult task to catch up with top nations such as Norway, Russia or Sweden. Medals were therefore actually only planned for the 2026 Olympics.
The Bavarian relied on a combination of strong team spirit and a lot of personal responsibility on the part of the athletes to catch up. Before the Olympics, his top athletes had even contributed to the costs of training camps: “They took the financial risk.” The investment paid off in Olympic gold on this historic Wednesday: after the surprising silver win for the women’s relay last Saturday with Hennig and Carl had exceeded his team’s expectations. But it was to be much better.
The day had started with a shock. Katherine Sauerbrey, who was actually intended for the team sprint, canceled her start because she no longer felt in top shape after the stresses of the first week. The Thuringian Carl was chosen as a replacement. “I was super nervous at first, after all it was my first classic-style race here,” reported the 26-year-old afterwards. Actually, she is stronger in the free skating technique. But Schlickenrieder and especially the women’s national coach Erik Schneider advised her to concentrate on her strength in arm thrusts.
That worked surprisingly well in the semifinals with a win against the defending champions from the USA. In the final, in which the two runners of each team had to alternate through the sprint lap three times, Carl seemed weakened on their first laps. Hennig (»I’m in the best shape of my life«) had to run into a small hole that Carl had previously opened up to her opponents.
But that was pure tactics, as Hennig later revealed: “I had to do the work so that Vicki could rest for the finish sprint.” The plan worked perfectly: In the last 200 meters, head coach Schneider stormed parallel to Carl in the support area and yelled them to victory.
“Chapeau! How Victoria managed it tactically in a world-class manner was unbelievable,” said team boss Peter Schlickenrieder: “It shows what an incredible development the whole team has taken. This Olympic victory is a team effort that would never have been possible without coaches, physiotherapists, doctors or waxers.” As before, the gold duo actually had the fastest skis under their feet.
The last German Olympic victory in cross-country skiing was twelve years ago. At that time, Evi Dingebacher-Stehle and Claudia Nystad also surprisingly won gold in the team sprint ahead of Sweden. »What we have achieved today, we will only realize in 10 or 20 years«, said Schlickenrieder now. He knows what he’s talking about: Exactly 20 years ago he himself won Olympic silver in the sprint. Hardly anyone had expected that either.
Now Hennig (25) from Saxony and Carl (26) from Thuringia are traveling home as sensational Olympic champions. Hennig is particularly looking forward to returning to her adopted home of Oberstdorf: »I phoned my parents. You visit me in the Allgäu. Maybe then I’ll understand what happened here.”
