Nadine’s brother is brimming with confidence: the next flag on his way to becoming the world’s best cross-country skier

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The strength of the bond between Nadine (28) and Cyril Fähndrich (24) became apparent at the beginning of January in the penultimate stage of the Tour de Ski. Cyril sprints for a podium place on the home straight, while Nadine, who has already retired from the tour, watches the scene in front of the TV – and shouts at the top of her lungs: “Run, Cyril, run! Again! Again!” The 28-year-old pushes her brother across the finish line from a distance. And then he celebrates his classic third place over 15 km. It is his first podium finish ever at the World Championships.

Cyril Fähndrich says the other way around about his sister, who is the most successful Swiss cross-country skier with three World Cup victories in the sprint: “What Nadine does is brutal. I don’t know anyone who works as hard on themselves as she does.” Her successes also motivated him to continue working hard on himself.

Last summer, the brothers and sisters attended many training sessions together at home in Eigenthal. Now the distance specialist is actually reaping the benefits of this. Together with Beda Klee (27), the sensational fifth overall, he caused quite a stir during the Tour de Ski. After finishing the tour in 44th and 42nd place in previous years, he made a huge jump to 13th place overall. The courageous attack in his podium race, where he fooled the well-known competition, was typical of him, says cross-country skiing legend and SRF expert Dario Cologna (37): “It is a quality of him that he has the confidence to do something . He has clear ideas about what he can do and where he wants to go.”

“It’s impressive how much he believes in himself”

This is in line with a statement by Cyril Fähndrich last winter, when he achieved his best World Cup result to date with 19th place in Davos in December 2022. He said at the time: “Now I have shown that I belong at the World Cup .”

Lars Brönnimann, head of disciplines at Swiss-Ski, also cites “tremendous self-confidence” as one of the most important factors for Cyril Fähndrich’s progress: “It’s impressive how firmly he believes in himself. He also analyzes his training in detail. He always tries to get the most out of himself.”

After the desired break from competition last weekend (he skipped Oberhof), Cyril Fähndrich will now (from Friday) take part in the home World Cup in Ulrichen. However, both Cologna and Brönnimann warn against only expecting top results from the new shooting star from now on: “Cyril is still young, he still needs time.”

But one thing is also clear: with his performance in the Tour de Ski, he joined the world elite.

Source : Blick