Norwegian skiers, both cross-country and alpine, claimed more victories over the weekend, this time in World Cup competition. After winning 26 medals at the Winter Olympics in Sochi last month, they now seem assured of top spots on the World Cup podiums as well, when the season finally winds down.
Marit Bjørgen, already crowned as Norway’s undisputed ski queen, won her 65th World Cup race in competition at Lahti in Finland on Sunday. She won the women’s 15-kilometer race and now sees fellow Norwegian teammates Therese Johaug and Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen as her main rivals.
Martin Johnsrud Sundby, meanwhile, has his eye on his first overall World Cup victory after also winning the men’s 15-kilometer race through the forests of Finland. Commentators said that even if he’d been up against such stars as Dario Cologna, Marcus Hellner, Johan Olsson and Petter Northug, none of whom took part in the race, they still would have needed to ski very fast to beat Sundby, who now has assembled valuable World Cup points towards an overall first place.
On the alpine circuit, downhill racer Kjetil Jansrud won two races in three days back home at Kvitfjell in Norway, in both the Super G and the men’s downhill. Jansrud, who won gold in Sochi, is now also looking for an overall World Cup victory but probably next year. He still faces tough competition for such a victory from his own Norwegian teammate Aksel Lund Svindal.
newsinenglish.no staff
