Record flight by Lamparter, the finish was 0.1 seconds short of victory

And that was exactly not enough. Although Lamparter, as the leader, increased the pace on the last climb of the cross-country ski trail, Herola could not be shaken off. In the final sprint, he put his foot decisively ahead of Lamparter’s – Herola ultimately had a lead of 0.1 seconds over the Tyrolean.

With two races to go in the World Cup standings, Lamparter is 173 points ahead of his toughest opponent Jens Luraas Oftebro from Norway.

As a “side effect”, Lamparter also secured the small compact crystal ball and has a great chance of finishing with three balls at the final competitions in Lahti (March 6th) and Oslo (March 15th). The mass start classification had already gone to the three-time Olympic medalist from Milan/Cortina at the end of January in Seefeld.

Greidler farewell in 10th place

Second best Austrian was Lukas Greiderer in tenth place (+20.7), the 32-year-old Tyrolean had a nice end to his career. “My first (flight) will be my last. A new phase of life is beginning,” said Greiderer. His greatest successes were an Olympic bronze medal in 2022 in Beijing, team sprint world championship gold in 2021 in Oberstdorf and two further world championship bronze medals with the team. Thomas Rettenegger took eleventh place behind Greiderer (+22.8). With Paul Walcher (14th/+28.8), Stefan Rettenegger (16th/+36.0) and Franz-Josef Rehrl (20th/+1:03.7), another trio made it into the top 20.