Cross-country skiing: Cyril Faehnrich, 7th in the 10 km classic
On RTS, Jean-Marc Richard and Jovian Hediger admitted that they didn’t see their Swiss compatriot Cyril Faehndrich ‘s fine performance in the individual classic at the World Championships in Trondheim (Norway) coming. The Lucerne native finished an astonishing 7th, 35.9 seconds behind the winner Johannes Hoesflot Klæbo, making him the first non-Scandinavian in the rankings.
He was ahead of some of the strongest riders on the circuit, including Michal Novak, Austrian Mika Vermeulen, Finn Ville Ahonen and French classics specialist Hugo Lapalus. For several minutes, he was even able to sit in the provisional leader’s seat, which was then occupied by Sweden’s Edvin Anger.
If the commentators on French-speaking Swiss television were surprised, it’s because so far this season, he hadn’t done better than 20th place in the same format in Ruka (Finland) on 29 November. He then finished 50th in the 20km classic in Davos (Switzerland) and 39th in the 20km skate race in Toblach (Italy).
In the Trondheim skiathlon on Saturday, he failed to impress, finishing 48th.
Cyril Faehndrich prepared for his season outside the federal group. Like his sister Nadine, he trained with Slovakian Ivan Hudac, who has now left Swiss-Ski. Up until then, I’d changed coaches almost every year,” he explained to the Zurich daily Blick. With Ivan, I’ve found a certain stability and I want to continue in that direction.
This top 10 finish and Nadine Faehndrich ‘s bronze medal in the sprint tend to validate this strategy.
Beda Klee, the second Swiss rider at the start, finished 33rd.
