March 21, 2023
Tallinn
Mrkonjic is racing into the top 12 for the first time
Photo: Jeba
Lukas Mrkonjić achieved his best World Cup finish to date with a 12th-place finish.
Lukas Mrkonjic put in a strong performance in the speed skating scene today in Tallinn (EST) and finished 12th with a convincing performance. The guy from Salzburg made it to the semi-finals for the first time in the World Cup race and at the same time managed to celebrate the best result of his career so far.
The 24-year-old reached the quarter-finals with the 18th place in the heats, where he battled in the first round with Frenchmen Lucas Chanavat and Richard Gough, as well as Norwegians Joeran Tever and sprint star Johannes Hosflotte. Claybo should. The Austrian was strong from the start, fighting for one of the two semi-final spots to the end and finally crossing the finish line in third place in his struggle. However, Salzburg’s solid time was enough to secure a place in the semi-finals as the lucky loser.
In the second round, he then played against the Italian Federico Pellegrino, Jules Chabazz from France, the Norwegian Evan Northog and the Swedes Edvin Anger and Marcus Greet. Unfortunately, the first semi-final of Lukas Mrkonjić’s career did not go according to plan, as the 24-year-old had an unfortunate fall at the start of the race. The last chance was missed, and in the end the Austrian sprint specialist crossed the finish line in sixth place. However, after a more than successful competition, the young ÖSV athlete was able to celebrate his best World Cup result to date with a 12th-place finish.
With Michael Föttinger (27th leading), another Austrian qualified in the top 30. The 25-year-old finished sixth in his heat, missing out on the semi-finals, but was able to look forward to an attractive contest with a 29th-place finish in the final classification. Benjamin Moser (32nd) and Mika Vermeulen (49th) could not qualify for the main competition.
In the end, the day’s victory confidently went to the Norwegian Johannes Hosflotte Kleibeu, who was able to prove himself against the Frenchman Lucas Chanavat (+2.62 seconds) and his compatriot Even Northog (+3.70 seconds).
In the women’s category, Norway’s Kristin Staffas Skestad defeated Sweden’s Jonah Sandling (+0.13 seconds) and Switzerland’s Nadine Fondrich (+2.33 seconds).
voice:
Lukas Mrkonjic (12th): “It was definitely a very good competition for me. I got my best result of the season, even though I didn’t feel good this morning or during the day. Under the circumstances, I definitely got the best results and I’m very proud of my performance. The arrival was To the semi-finals is one of my big personal goals for this season and I achieved it today. Going down in the semi-finals was of course unfortunate and in my opinion it was an outsider’s mistake. To be honest, it also hurt a bit, because I definitely had a chance to get to the final today. However, this is the best result me and I am completely satisfied.”
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