In Otepää

Purker missed the top ten on the final day

Claudia Purker.(Bild: APA/GEORG HOCHMUTH / APA / picturedesk.com)

On the final day of the World Cup in Otepää (Estonia), Nordic combined athlete Claudia Purker finished in eleventh place. After a good jump, the athlete from Pongau then fell back in the cross-country ski run.

Sunday started well again for Claudia Purker. The combined skier sailed to sixth place on the ski jump, giving her a good starting position for the cross-country ski run at the World Cup in Otepää. In the end, however, she fell back and finished eleventh. Nevertheless, it was enough to become the best Austrian, as Annalena Slamik only finished 17th in the race won by Germany's Nathalie Armbruster.

"I'm very happy, I ran a great race," said Purker, satisfied with Otepää. "I was able to keep up with the better runners for a long time, I can't blame myself."

Thanks to Purker's best World Cup result on Saturday, where she finished a strong fifth, she is the best red-white-red lady in the overall World Cup with 443 points in twelfth place ahead of the Nordic World Championships in Trondheim (Nor). In the coming week she wants to relax a little and slow down. This will be followed by a preparation course in Seefeld before she actually goes to the World Championships. "I think there are still little things that can be improved. I'm happy with the way I'm going," says the 26-year-old.

In the men's event, Tyrolean Johannes Lamparter finished in fifth place at the World Championships dress rehearsal. Thomas Rettenegger (fourth after the jumping) finished sixth behind "Jo". Brother Stefan only managed to improve five places after a botched jump, the Pongau native finished 16th.