Bjørgen crushed the field, taking gold at Tremila in the Winter Olympics

Pyeongchang, South Korea 2018. Marit Bjørgen. Foto: Terje Pedersen / NTB scanpix

Marit Bjørgen smashed the competition and took a superb Olympic gold at 30-kilometers on Sunday. The victory allowed Norway to pass Germany, and become the top medal winners in the Olympics.

 

Sunday’s victory made Bjørgen pass by Ole Einar Bjørndalen, and become the winter Olympics top competitor, with eight gold medals.

Bjørgen won with perfect technique. She set up a fast pace from the start.

After 25 minutes, she left Charlotte Kalla behind. The Swedish athlete ran out of steam compared to Bjørgen.

It’s unknown to find skiing of the same standard as Bjørgen’s during the first half of the race, and the Swedish competitor didn’t stand a chance.

Neither did any of the other competitors.

Bjørgen went solo over 20 kilometers, and cruised to victory in lonely majesty.

Norway’s medal record in the Winter Olympics is 39, after Bjørgen’s powerful demonstration. Norway ended up with 14 golds, 14 silver and 11 bronze medals, and went to the top of winningl statistics.

Krista Pärmäkoski took the silver, while Stina Nilsson was impressive, and spurted past Ingvild Flugstad Østberg in the battle for the bronze medal.

Teresa Stadlober was once a hot medal contender, but the Austrian fell out of the medal war when she fell from silver position after 21 kilometers.

Sunday represented an Olympic era of the very rarest kind. It happened in an absolutely stunning Easter breeze. The sun was heavy in a clear sky in the Alpensia arena.

There are 5860 days between Bjørgen’s OL debut in 2002 and today. She started the Olympic journey as number fifty in the fifteen kilometers in the thin air of Salt Lake City.

Bjørgen came in over seven minutes behind the winner, Italy’s Stefania Belmondo.

Continuing?

After that, there have been another 23 Olympic starts for the Norwegian veteran.

The medal tally is eight gold, four silver and three bronze medals.

8 is a lucky number in Asia. With number 8 on her chest, Bjørgen cruised to Oympic gold number 8.

Bjørgen will be 38 years on the 21st of March. That is three days after the World Championship ends in Falun. The World Cup in Seefeld next year could be Bjørgen’s definitive farewell. She wants to go together with Therese Johaug.

The decision on her skiing career choice will be made in the spring.

 

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today