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Katharina Hennig at the World Cup in Davos, December 2022
Photo: Gian Ehrenzeller / dpa
The German women's relay was disqualified after their strong second place at the cross-country skiing world cup in Dobbiaco.
The reason was an error in the line-up: Coletta Rydzek was on the starting list as the last runner, but Sofie Krehl, who was not registered, started.
Shortly after crossing the finish line, the DSV quartet was therefore taken out of the ranking.
Previously, Olympic champion Katharina Hennig, Laura Gimmler, Pia Fink and Krehl had celebrated the first relay podium in six years.
Even though second place was eventually dropped from the list of results, the performance still encouraged us for the upcoming World Championships in Planica.
After 4x7.5 kilometers, the DSV team was 13.9 seconds behind Olympic champion Norway.
Second place went to Sweden (+26.7 seconds) ahead of the USA (+26.9).
At the top of South Tyrol, start runner Gimmler shone and handed over as the leader to Hennig, who, together with Sweden, distanced the rest of the field.
Fink handed over Östberg to Krehl at the same time as Norway's Olympic champion Ingvild Flugstad, who had to let Silje Theodorsen go.
Hennig and Krehl were the only runners in love in the Beijing 2022 Olympic relay, which surprisingly won silver.
At the World Championships in Planica (February 21 to March 5), the women's quartet is considered Germany's greatest hope for winning a medal for German cross-country skiing again after five disappointing world championships.
On Saturday, Hennig had clearly missed out on a top placing over ten kilometers; more than 25th place was not possible.
Team boss Peter Schlickenrieder spoke of "re-entry difficulties" that were "absolutely acceptable" after two illnesses.
With a view to the World Cup, Hennig is “on schedule”.
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