Olympia: 6th place for Laura Steger

After seven laps covering a total distance of 27 kilometres and 830 metres of ascent, the 23-year-old Steiger was just under a minute from the bronze medal. Even in this year's World Cup season, she had yet to reach the podium.

The sixth place at the Olympics is the best performance by an Austrian in this discipline, which has been on the programme since 1996.

“I ran out of juice in the middle of the race.”

“I felt really good in the first few laps, the atmosphere was really good. I ran out of juice in the middle of the race. But I went all out, I can't complain, the others were stronger, I have to admit it,” Steiger said in an interview with ORF, but he gave a positive assessment. “I'm happy, although you already dream of medals, but you also have to be happy with sixth place.”

As in 2021 in Tokyo – when she gave up – Steger started as a shot in front of 13,000 fans in Elancourt. But she quickly dropped from the medals to the top of the chase group. About halfway through the race, she made her way back to third-placed Loana Lecomte, who shortly afterwards suffered a serious head injury on a rocky trail and had to retire with an injury.

Stigger had to let the opponents go.

Shortly afterwards, a tyre defect forced the return of Bock Peters (NED), who was on course for the silver medal, and Steger also had to let her rivals slip away in the last three laps to claim the two medals still open behind the undisputed Ferrand Prevot.

After a season plagued by health issues, Mitrovalner was behind from the start. The 22-year-old finished nearly nine minutes behind in her Olympic debut.