Heidi Weng secures Lillehammer mini-tour title
BySportsbeat
Updated 04/12/2016 at 12:33 GMT
Norway's Heidi Weng secured her first World Cup cross country tour event after taking victory in the three-day competition in Lillehammer, Norway.
Second placed Ingvild Flugstad Oestberg of Norway, winner Heidi Weng of Norway and third placed Krista Parmakoski of Finland after the women's 10km Cross Country pursuit event at the FIS Cross Country World Cup in Lillehammer.
Image credit: Eurosport
The Olympic bronze medallist began the day with a 20-second lead over her teammate Ingvild Flugstad Oestberg, going into the final 10km classic technique pursuit.
And while feeling the effects of the last two days, the 25-year-old held off the challenges of her rivals to not only take the race win but also secure an overall victory by a 16.1 second margin after finishing with a combined time of 44:21.1.
She said: "Today it was not easy at all. I felt very tired in the first lap. I knew Krista [Parmakoski] was skiing really fast.
"I was afraid Krista and Ingvild were coming close to me. I am happy about my performance during the last two weekends."
The battle behind Weng for second and third certainly proved a close one with Finland's Krista Parmakoski starting the day in fifth before picking off Norway's Marit Bjoergen and the USA's Jessie Diggins to move into third place.
She then overtook Oestberg in the final kilometre, but a fall on the second last downhill gave second place back to Oestberg, both on the day and in the overall rankings.
Despite the fall, Parmakoski still managed to hold on to third place overall for her first ever tour podium.
She said: "I felt like I was flying today. It was an amazing race. My body worked very well and my skis were perfect. It was an advantage to ski behind Ingvild.
"On the last downhill I had to take my chances if I wanted to win. The fall was unfortunate but I am happy for third place."
The result also saw Weng extend her lead in the overall World Cup rankings as she moved onto 459 points, 90 points ahead of Oestberg.
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