Freund and Bjoergen win World Cup events in Oslo

(L-R) Second placed Therese Johaug from Norway, winner Marit Bjoergen from Norway and third placed Kertu Niskanen from Finland pose after the Ladies 30 km Mass Start Classic race for the FIS Cross Country Skiing World Cup in Oslo, Norway, yesterday. (EPA)DPA/Oslo Severin Freund of Germany and Norway’s Marit Bjoergen won World Cup events in Oslo yesterday, triumphing in the men’s large hill ski jumping and the women’s 30km mass start cross-country, respectively. Freund claimed his eighth career World Cup victory with his success at the famous Holmenkollen venue in the Norwegian capital. His jumps of 132 and 130.5 metres gave him a winning total of 265.4 points. Norwegian Anders Bardal was second on 252.1 points and World Cup standings leader Kamil Stoch of Poland third on 245.4. Stoch now has 1,320 points at the top of the rankings and is strong favourite to claim the overall crown. He has a lead of 168 over Peter Prevc, who finished 11th, while Freund is third overall on 1,123. Earlier Marit Bjoergen won the women’s 30km cross-country to set up a thrilling finale to the season next week in Falun, Sweden. Bjoergen, who won three golds at the Olympics, won the mass start event in a time of 1 hour 20 minutes 55.7 seconds, well ahead of team-mate Therese Johaug who was 1 minute 41.2 seconds behind. It was a historic day for Bjoergen as not only did she register the 100th podium place of her World Cup career, she claimed a record fourth victory at Holmenkollen. Previously she had won events in Oslo in 2005, 2010 and 2012. Johaug does retain the overall lead in the World Cup standings but her advantage over Bjoergen is cut to just 39 points. Bjoergen collected all 60 available bonus points to move to 1,242, while Johaug is on 1,281. The overall title now goes to the wire at the final events in Falun next weekend. The Finn Kerttu Niskanen took the final podium place, 2 minutes 25.8 seconds behind Bjoergen.