Tatjana Paller had flirted with a medal in the sprint at the World Ski Mountaineering Championships.
In the end, the Lenggrieserin had to settle for ninth place.
Boi Taüll/Lenggries – The large tent on the plaza in Boi Taüll was atmospherically illuminated when the winners and runners-up of the world championship sprint race were honored.
The emcee read out the medal winners of all age groups for men and women.
Tatjana Paller from Lenggries was not there, although she had reckoned with a chance of winning a medal beforehand.
Top-class podium
The podium in the women's competition was by no means a product of chance.
Bronze went to the young Frenchwoman Emely Harrop, the leader in the Sprint World Cup, silver to the former world champion Marianne Fatton (Switzerland), and gold went to the senior woman in the women's competition - Marianna Jagercikova.
The 37-year-old Slovakian won the European Championships at the same place last year and has now secured the gold double of the two major international events at the same place.
The delegation from Team Germany stood by and applauded politely.
Meanwhile, Tatjana Paller was a bit nostalgic: "I wasn't exactly in the mood to celebrate." The 27-year-old from Lenggries had flirted with a medal in the run-up to the World Championship sprint, but had to settle for ninth place in the final standings.
"Even during qualifying, I noticed that my legs weren't the freshest," reports Paller.
"Especially in the carrying section, which is actually my strength, I lacked the power in my legs." The qualifying time was quite impressive.
Third place after 3:27 minutes behind Fatton (3:19 min.) and Harrop (3:24 min.) - that gave reason for optimism.
Paller in the fastest quarterfinal heat
In the subsequent quarter-finals, Paller caught the fastest of all five heats and advanced to the semi-finals as a lucky loser.
"That sounds like a bit of luck, but with my time I could easily have won all the other quarter-final heats," the sprint specialist clarifies.
The second Lucky Looser, who slipped into the semi-finals, was a handful of seconds behind Paller.
In the semifinals, however, the fun ended: having started the run from a central position, the Lenggrieserin had to gradually let most of her opponents go.
In the transition zones, she was always only fourth or fifth and could not make up any more places even in the narrow but easy descent.
"Ninth place isn't what I imagined, but it's also not a complete catastrophe," sums up the best German ski mountaineer.
"Everything has to be perfect at the World Cup to get on the podium."
17th in the vertical: only 30 seconds missing from the top ten
The sprint specialist was by no means one of the favorites in the vertical race the following day.
"It didn't go that badly at all," says Paller, "although I would have hoped for more than 17th place." 30 seconds were missing from the top ten, and Paller suspects that they closed the gap with a somewhat cleverer one Classification could have been: “I started the race too slowly.
I still had a few grains left on the last steep ramp.”
World Championship title in the U20 for Paller's relay partner Finn Hösch
Nevertheless, Team Germany had something to celebrate: Finn Hösch's U20 title in the sprint.
He is already running with the elite men in the World Cup and dominated the competition in Boi Taüll at will.
So it's a good thing that Hösch has been Tatjana Paller's relay partner since the start of the season.
These team relays are mixed relays and contain the same elements as the sprint;
albeit on a slightly longer circuit, which each of the two ski mountaineers completes twice.
This relay competition will be Olympic for the first time in 2026 in Cortina.
Two relays have been on the World Cup calendar so far - Paller/Hösch finished eleventh and tenth.
"From the first to the second race there was a decent boost," reports Paller.
"That's why we want to knock one out again on Sunday at the end of the World Cup."
