Michael Hellweger impressed in the qualifying, but was then eliminated in the quarter-finals. © Newspower

Hellweger excels in qualifying, but then fails early

With the second fastest time in the qualification, Michael Hellweger from Sarnen caused quite a stir on Saturday at the Sprint World Cup in Canmore, Canada. However, he was unable to confirm his outstanding qualifying performance in the knockout phase of the best 30.

10. February 2024

From: on

Only the Norwegian top favorite Johannes Klaebo was better than Hellweger in the Sprint World Cup qualification. The 27-year-old from Sarnen has never been so strong in a World Cup qualification. In the knockout round, however, he was eliminated in the quarter-finals. In his group of 6, Hellweger did not get past 5th place and thus missed out on a place in the semi-finals.

In the end, Sarner was ranked 21st. The victory went to Klaebo. He prevailed in the final of the best 6 ahead of his compatriot Erik Valnes and the Swede Edvin Anger. Even Northug ended up in 4th place. The 21-year-old Azzurro Elia Barp made it to a sprint final for the first time in his World Cup career and achieved his best result to date with 5th place.

In the women's race, victory went to Norwegian Kristine Stavaas Skistad. She prevailed ahead of the two Swedes Maja Dahlqvist and Linn Svahn. Nicole Monsorno was the only Azzurra to make it to the quarterfinals. That's where the end came, and in the end the Fiemme Valley native was ranked 18th. There was no South Tyrolean at the start.