Krista Pärmäkoski already came fourth in the overall competition.
16:26•Updated 17:35
Krista Pärmäkoski was in a convincing mood in the women’s 20 km free pursuit in Oberstdorf and finished second Frida Karlsson after.
Pärmäkoski started the pursuit race about 16 seconds after Karlsson, accompanied by Norway Tiril Udnes Weng and Anne Kjersti Kalvå. The trio caught the Swede at about seven kilometers.
The men’s pursuit race became a dogfight, which was decided in the stadium. Pärmäkoski was expecting a similar race.
– Before the race, I thought it was going to be a massacre. Frida was going hard and I thought she couldn’t be caught. I heard that there had been a gap in the back, so I just had to try to ski hard.
Reaching Karlsson came as a surprise to Pärmäkoski.
– Every time someone else pulled, the pace slowed down. I had no choice but to break away from those behind.
Then the playoffs began. Kalvå left the group after halftime. Moments later, Weng had to give up.
After this, Karlsson and Pärmäkoski alternated in the top spot. The solution came two kilometers before the finish, when Karlsson hit Burgstall on the climb. In the end, the difference between the two was 14 seconds.
Weng and Kalvå, on the other hand, collapsed about a minute and 15 seconds away from Pärmäkoski. Weng was third.
In the stage races, Pärmäkoski was the second fastest.
– This was certainly one of my best free races.
The settings improved in the overall race
Top bet raised Pärmäkoski’s shares in the overall race. He moved up from seventh to fourth and is only 13 seconds behind Weng in second. The difference to Karlsson is 1.41.
The Tour continues on Friday with traditional sprints.
– Feels good. Now it is important that you can recover from this. The sprint will be important for the overall race.
Kerttu Niskanen was 15th in Wednesday’s race. He is fifth in the overall race and the difference to Karlsson is 1.55.