Superior gold medal for Bjørgen in the 10 km classic cross-country event

Marit BjørgenMari Bjørgen.Photo: wikipedia.org

Marit Bjørgen crushed the contenders and took the gold medal in the 10 km classic event in front Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla and fellow Norwegian Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen.

Bjørgen took the lead from the start, and it soon became evident that the cross-country veteran would take her 16th World Championship victory.

– It was a fantastic race. This was one of my favourite distances before we came here, and I did it. I’m so happy, said Bjørgen in an interview with the World Championship organizers shortly after the finish.

The 36-year-old was 41 seconds faster than Charlotte Kalla, the Swedish title defender on the distance. Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen on bronze place was 55 seconds behind teammate Bjørgen.

– Holy cow, Astrid. That race was well put together, Bjørgen exclaimed when she met her teammate at the finish.

Heidi Weng also fought for a medal, but ended almost 20 seconds behind Jacobsen in fourth place. Ingvild Flugstad Østberg was a further 21 seconds behind in eighth spot.

With two medals, Norwegian girls can forget the failure of the 10-kilometer in the Falun World Championship two years ago. When the Norwegians missed on the ski preparations completely and ended far down on the list after Kalla’s gold run.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today