Cross-country skiing

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Mika Vermeulen

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

Mika Vermeulen has secured another top ten place at the Cross-Country World Cup in Lillehammer! In his adopted home country, the 25-year-old Styrian finished eighth in the 10 km skating race, placing in the top ten for the third time in the third individual event of the season. However, at 49.5 seconds behind winner Martin Löwström Nyenget, who led a six-way victory for the Norwegians, he was still some way off the podium.

Teresa Stadlober lacked a lot of time on the top ten this time. She skated to 17th place over the 10 km and, at 1:47.7 minutes behind winner Therese Johaug, clearly fell short of expectations. Johaug, together with Heidi Weng and Astrid Oeyre Slind, ensured a triple victory for the hosts. "I'm not happy with the placing. This is still the more difficult race format for me, I was constantly losing time and couldn't muster up the necessary excitement," said Stadlober, who also didn't cope so well with the fresh snow conditions.

Successful debut for Brudermann
Katharina Brudermann, however, celebrated a successful World Cup debut: The 25-year-old from Kitzbühel finished 27th, 2:47.2 minutes behind the leader, and scored her first points. "I'm super happy, I was super nervous before the start. It's really cool that I'm here now and I hope that I can compete in a few more World Cups," said Brudermann, who, like Vermeulen, also lives in Norway and is studying sports science there.

Stadlober congratulated the debutant. "I'm happy for her, this is important for Austrian cross-country skiing." Austria's women's figurehead has even set her sights on the top 3 for the skiathlon on Sunday.

Vermeulen not completely satisfied
Like Stadlober, Vermeulen was also not happy with his placing. "I can't be completely satisfied yet. I was already a 'lot' worse than in the last two races," Vermeulen said self-critically. "It was a medium day in difficult conditions against an incredibly good Norwegian team." Ramsauer, who lives in Lillehammer, speaks Norwegian and was therefore a popular interview partner for the local media. He was the second best non-Norwegian behind the German Friedrich Moch (7th).

At one point, Vermeulen was also in sixth place at kilometer 5.6, but then dropped back. In the end, the top five were within ten seconds of each other and well ahead of the other chasers. Vermeulen will compete in the sprint on Saturday and the skiathlon on Sunday. "The cards will be reshuffled again in the skiathlon, so we'll hope for the best."