Favorite victories at the 21st Pfitscher Volkskreuzlauf

There was certainly no shortage of star cast at this year’s edition of “Pfitscher”. And the favorites didn't show any weakness in one of the most traditional cross-country skiing events in South Tyrol, but more than lived up to their role and ultimately prevailed confidently. In ideal external conditions, temperatures were around freezing point and it was snowing very lightly, the starting signal was given in Grube at exactly 10 a.m.

A group of seven immediately broke away from the crowd, with David Hofer, Thomas Moriggl, Christian Zorzi, Roberto De Zolt, Bruno Debertolis, Reinhard Kargruber and Eugenio Bianchi dictating a high pace. After four kilometers, Kargruber and Bianchi were a little behind, but by the eighth kilometer the two had already closed the gap again.

Halfway through the route, the two “Azzurri” Hofer and Moriggl broke away on an incline. Shortly before St. Jakob, Moriggl increased the pace even further and ran the last few kilometers alone. In 55.45,1 minutes, the 29-year-old from Schlinig prevailed, 45,2 seconds ahead of his 27-year-old national team colleague Hofer from St. Christina. Both top athletes will take part in the Nordic World Ski Championships in Oslo from February 24th to March 6th. Today's competition was the ideal preparation race for the highlight of the season in just under two weeks. Christian Zorzi crossed the finish line in third place. The Trentino native has won ten World Cup races in his long career.

“On Thursday I decided with David Hofer to take part here. We trained very hard last week, so I only ran the short distance. I showed a good running performance and am of course very satisfied,” said winner Moriggl at the finish.

Magda Genuin was the first woman to cross the finish line. For the 31-year-old from Falcade, the clock stopped after 1:02.13,3 hours. The athlete from the Italian national team broke away from her pursuers right from the start of the race and took last year's winner Eugenjia Bichugova by more than five minutes until the end (1:07.34,6). Third came Monika Schwingshackl from Welsberg, who was the best South Tyrolean over the short distance in 1:09.38,7. “I ran a very lonely race at the beginning, but then I caught up with a group of amateurs who came along with me. “It was a really great race,” Genuin commented on her victory.

Roberto De Zolt Ponte repeated his victory from last year over 42 kilometers. The 41-year-old from Team Hartmann reached the finish in 1:35.45,0 minutes, even though he had been suffering from an intestinal infection for a week. De Zolt Ponte beat Bruno Debertolis (1:36.16,4), winner of the Toblach-Cortina classic a week ago, and the best South Tyrolean over the long distance, Reinhard Kargruber. “I was sick all last week and had problems with my stomach. That's why I was very surprised that I was able to win here. Pfitsch seems to me to be easy and, above all, to bring luck,” said winner De Zolt Ponte.

In the women's race, a biathlete set the best time over 42 kilometers. Olga Zaitseva, three-time Olympic medalist (including two gold medals in the relay) and three-time world champion (two relay, one mass start), reached the finish in 1:47.31,0 minutes, more than a minute faster than last year's winner Veronica De Martin Pinter (1:49.08,0). “I'm currently training in Ridnaun with a view to the World Cup in Russia and I really wanted to train under competitive conditions, so I decided to run the Pfitscher. “My performance was good, I’m very happy,” said the 32-year-old Muscovite.

A total of 350 participants took part in the 21st edition of the Pfitscher Volkskreuzlauf. “We are very happy that we were able to maintain the number of participants from last year and, above all, that we had so many top athletes with us this year. It shows that Pfitscher has a good name in the cross-country skiing scene. Our thanks go to the many volunteers who made this cross-country skiing event a great event for the entire valley,” said Christian Wolfsgruber from the Pfitscher Eisbär amateur sports club, which organized the race.

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Favorite victories at the 21st Pfitscher Volkskreuzlauf

Thomas Moriggl and Magda Genuin over 25 kilometers and Robert De Zolt and Olga Zaitseva over 42 kilometers are the winners of the 21st Pfitscher Volkskreuzlauf, which took place today.

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