At Tour de Ski

Stadlober finishes in eighth place in Dobbiaco

Teresa Stadlober impressed with eighth place in the shortened Tour de Ski opener in Dobbiaco. The woman from Salzburg is in tenth place overall, 1:40 minutes behind winner Jessica Diggins.

Teresa Stadlober did well on Sunday with an eighth place in this year's shortened Tour de Ski in cross-country skiing. The 31-year-old from Salzburg was 23.7 seconds slower than Jessica Diggins in the 15 km mass start race in classic style in Dobbiaco. The US American won in 42:23.6 minutes, 0.5 seconds ahead of Finland's Kerrtu Niskanen and 0.7 seconds ahead of Astrid Oeyre Slind (NOR). In the overall standings, Stadlober is in tenth place, 1:40 minutes behind Diggins. "I've never started a race from 59th position before and that's why I had to cover a few extra meters to the start line. Of course, it was a bit hectic at the start, with lots of stop-and-go phases. On the first long climb, I took advantage of the moment and made up a lot of places. That was important so that I could join the first group right away," says Stadlober.

"I gave it my all and I'm absolutely happy with eighth place. My form is good and after the disappointing sprint prologue yesterday, today was a very positive result. Now it's time to recover well and attack again on Tuesday."

The second Austrian, Katharina Brudermann, finished 43rd in the second race of the 19th Tour de Ski (+3:28.5). After a rest day, the women will continue on New Year's Eve with the 20 km individual race. The men's race was won by Norway's Johannes Klaebo. Mika Vermeulen narrowly missed out on the top ten, finishing eleventh.