Even though winter has still not arrived in our region, the next German Cup was on the agenda for the cross-country skiers in the Bavarian Forest last weekend (11.01.2020).
After the last competitions in 2019 in Slovenia and Austria were not as successful as hoped for Melina Schöttes from the Oberhundem Ski Club, she completed a 10-day training camp in Ramsau am Dachstein over the turn of the year in perfect conditions. The performances last weekend showed that this preparation was worthwhile. With first and second places in the women's class, the 21-year-old took the lead in the overall standings of the German Cup.
On Saturday, a prologue over 2.3 kilometres in the free technique was on the programme in the Hohenzollern Ski Stadium on the Grosser Arber. In the end, Melina was 1.8 seconds short of victory in the women's class. Thus she finished second behind Katherine Sauerbrey from Thuringia, who had her first World Cup appearance in the relay in Lillehammer this winter.
How great the performance density is is shown by the fact that the best four women and junior skiers were only 2.1 seconds apart after 2.3 kilometres. On Sunday, 9.2 kilometres had to be completed on the demanding artificial snow track. Melina Schöttes was able to win the women's class with the fourth best overall time over this distance after 23:00.4 minutes ahead of Celine Riess from Bavaria.
The next competitions are already scheduled for the coming weekend. Melina will start at the international Dolomite Run in Austria. On Friday, she will start with a sprint in the city centre of Lienz, and on Sunday she will run 42 kilometres in the classic technique through East Tyrol.