Bjoergen anchors Norway to gold in team relay

By Sportsbeat staff

OVERALL World Cup leader Marit Bjoergen capped a dominant Norwegian team display in the women’s 4x5km relay to seal FIS Cross-Country Skiing gold in Nove Mesto.

DOUBLE SUCCESS: While Bjoergen anchored the women's team to gold Petter Northug also brought home the men's team in first

The Norwegian four of Bjoergen, Vibeke Skofterud, Therese Johaug and Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen started strongly and gradually extended their lead to leave Bjoergen a comfortable anchor leg coming home in a time of 54:51.4minutes.

The Finland team of Riikka Sarasoja-Lilja, Aino-Kaisa Saarinen, Riitta-Liisa Roponen and Krista Lahteenmaki ended up second, 32.6seconds back, but did snatch silver in a photo finish from the Norway second team.

And it was a double success on the day for Norway as Petter Northug anchored the men’s team to victory in the 4x10km race.

But it wasn’t as comfortable as the women’s race as Northug had to hold off the challenge of Russia’s Maxim Vylegzhanin in the closing stages to win in a time of 1:40:16.8minutes, 0.6seconds clear of the Russian team.

Sweden’s Marcus Hellner brought home his team for third, narrowly edging out the Italian team for the last podium spot. 

(c) Sportsbeat 2012