Gina del Rio records career-best 12th in Davos 10km

Gina del Rio finished 12th in the 10 km individual skate at the Davos World Cup on Sunday, posting the best distance result of her World Cup career with a time of 27:26.5, 51.6 seconds behind winner Karoline Simpson‑Larsen (26:34.9). Sweden’s Moa Ilar was second at +2.1 and Norway’s Astrid Oeyre Slind third at +2.2. The result is Del Rio’s fifth World Cup top‑15 and her first top‑15 in a distance race, and it confirmed her hold on the U23 overall lead, which she first took after Saturday’s sprint.

Del Rio raced from the back into the top pack, clocking the 17th fastest split at 1.7 km, dropping to 20th at 2.7 km, then moving up to 14th around halfway and holding that position through the mid kilometres before finishing 12th. The performance marked a clear progression in distance events for Del Rio, who had been 52nd in Oslo last season and 28th in Trondheim earlier this month.

The Davos weekend had started strongly for Del Rio in the sprint on Saturday, when she qualified 17th with a time of 2:44.89 to reach the top‑30 eliminations and ultimately placed 13th overall. In her quarterfinal she led much of the race and appeared set to advance, but an incident on the final climb — Milla Andreassen stepped on Del Rio’s pole, forcing her to brake — cost momentum. Del Rio recovered to contest the finish but was edged by Coletta Rydzek by 0.05 seconds in a photo finish; her heat time was 2:37.83. Jasmi Joensuu and Rydzek progressed to the semifinals.

Del Rio said the weekend had been very positive, noting good sensations and skis and satisfaction with her pacing. With the Davos results she not only recorded her first World Cup top‑15 in a distance event but also consolidated the green bib as U23 leader. She sits 44th in the overall sprint standings with 27 points.