Schurter looked fresh and kept increasing the pace early on. On lap five, however, his rear tire ran out of air on an unfavourable section of the course, with the tech zone far away. "I felt good and tried to put the other riders under pressure - uphill and downhill. I was the only one with a flat tire at the front. Maybe I took a bit too much risk," said Schurter, looking back on the decisive phase.

With a new rear wheel, he resumed the race in 17th position, tried to minimize the damage and got going better than expected. Schurter literally flew past the chasing groups and found himself in the leading group on the last lap. "I tried to ride for victory again, but in the end the chase took too much energy. But I'm very happy with my performance today," said a delighted Schurter in third place.Romanian Vlad Dascalu tries his luck in the final phase. The fourth-placed rider in the short track race is able to distance himself from Olympic champion Tom Pidcock. However, the Briton gains back meter after meter, shoots through the pump track much more agilely than Dascalu and sprints past him shortly before the finish. "After two third places, I wanted to ride for the win today. I knew that Tom was stronger in the sprint, so I tried to pull out a gap just before the end. Unfortunately, he came closer again and I had nothing left to defend myself. Too bad it wasn't enough again. But second behind the Olympic champion, who was simply stronger in the end, I'll take that too of course," said Dascalu with a smile and added: "I'll keep trying!"

Personal best performances

In the third lap, Mathias Flückiger joins the leading group and shows ambitions of winning until the final lap. After Dascalu's attack, however, he no longer had enough strength and in the end Flückiger just missed out on the podium in sixth place. However, after the less than satisfactory World Cups in Petropolis and Albstadt, this result is a balm for him.

Eighth place is also balm for Andri Frischknecht. He increasingly worked his way up the field over the course of the race and remained in the top ten in the second half of the race. His first top 10 result since 2019.

Right behind him, Luca Schwarzbauer finished in ninth place - his second-best World Cup result. The German has shown strong performances in the short track so far, but was unable to repeat them in the cross country. In Nove Mesto, Schwarzbauer wins the short track and is finally able to maintain his performance over the Olympic distance.

On the way to equaling his best result in the Elite World Cup, Vital Albin rides a solid race and gradually catches up from 22nd position. But on the last two laps, the man from Bünde really stepped on the gas and finally cracked the top 10 for the first time.Results Short Track
Results Cross Country

McConnell for third

In the women's race, Rebecca McConnell immediately goes into full swing and pulls away a little in the starting lap. The Australian was soon joined by Jenny Rissveds. However, the Swede doesn't play along for long and pulls away again, while the chasing groups constantly reshuffle.

McConnell's lead stabilized at around 20 seconds. Behind them, Rissveds and Loana Lecomte tried to reduce the gap. Alessandra Keller almost caught up with the chasers but falls back due to technical problems, while Jolanda Neff is now in fourth position. While the Australian continues her lonely laps, Rissveds loses touch with Lecomte. The latter even reduced her gap.

But it was not enough to close the gap to McConnell. On the contrary, she loses ground again, while Neff has to battle with the up-and-coming Carolin Bohe and Mona Mitterwallner in the final lap. Rebecca McConnell makes up some ground and wins her third cross-country World Cup in a row. "I knew I was in the best shape of my life, but I thought a podium finish would be absolutely cool. The fact that it was enough to win again leaves me absolutely speechless," said the Australian.

Places two and three remain unchanged and go to Loana Lecomte and Jenny Rissveds. Caroline Bohe was beaten by Jolanda Neff in the sprint, but rode to her best World Cup result with fifth place. "I'm super happy with my fourth place," says Neff, delighted with her performance. Alessandra Keller is less happy about her good eighth place: "Today I would have had the legs to ride onto the podium again, but technical problems prevented that. I'm very disappointed!"

Sina Frei was third Swiss in tenth place. Linda Indergand and Ramona Forchini rode to 15th and 16th place respectively.

Results Short Track
Results Cross Country