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Cette édition 2013 s'est assez vite résumé en un long duel entre la Finlandaise Roponen et la Suissesse Seraina Boner,du Team Coop longues distances.
Tout s'est joué au sprint entre les deux fondeuses avec un léger avantage pour Roponen qui conserve sa victoire acquise l'an passé.
La Russe Shaidurova prend la troisième place, ceci lors de sa première apparition en longues distances.
Célia Bourgeois se classe 6e à 3min02.
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Les réactions :
Riitta-Liisa Roponen (FIN):
Seraina started very fast and I only thought: Oh my god...will it stay that hard until the end?! But it got easier by the time and I just had to follow her. However, it was a very hard race for me today and I am really, really happy that I could win it in the end. I had to trust my sprinting. I planned to do the World Cup as well as this race and I am glad that I did it. Seraina also raced in Davos so I knew that we both had the same level of races in the legs. High altitude plus a race in this condition, that's a great training for me for the Olympics as I am still focused on that. I am here already some time, so I got aclimatised. Over the time I saw what the organiser did to prepare the track. Sure, there were still some stones in the track, but they still did a huge work to make this race possible. I had hoped for a podium and I am really happy that it worked out!
Seraina Boner (SUI):
Of course it's a pity that I lost the finish sprint, but I had a little stumble right ebfore the finish and so in the end Riita-Liisa was faster. Nevertheless I am very happy with the result today. I raced the 15km World Cup race in Davos yesterday, as it is my hometown and I was a little afraid about this double stress, but I am now really satisfied that I did it and that I showed good results in both races. I was a bit tired in the morning but once on my skis, the fatigue was gone. I skied the whole time together with Riita-Liisa and we were in a group with some men. The race was very controlled but if you don't have any support, it's hard to get away. In total it was once again wonderful to ski here in this weather and in this atmosphere, even though there was little snow in some parts of the track.
Larisa Shaidurova (RUS):
It was the first time for me that I raced such a long race and also my first FIS Marathon Cup, that's why I had no idea what to expect. Especially because this race was also in such a high altirude. Therefore I am really really happy that I could already make it to the podium in this first race. In the beginning I was together with the first two girls but suddenly there was a little gap of around 300m and then I was alone and couldn't get back to them. I hope that I would have some other people to ski with at some point again, but unfortunately that didn't happen and so I had to ski the whole time alone and wasn't able to track down the other two girls. I am now looking forward to my next race.
Photo : Nordic Focus