Holund leads home Norwegian individual clean sweep

Norway completed a clean sweep in the 15km freestyle individual as Hans Christer Holund claimed victory at the Nordic World Ski Championships in Oberstdorf.

It was their first one-two-three in the event at the World Championships since 1966 as the Norwegians got the better of Alexander Bolshunov, who had to settle for fourth place.

The Russian Ski Federation skier set a ferocious pace early, but faded over the second half of the race as the Norwegians came through strong.

Holund, the 2019 50km mass start world champion, judged his race to perfection and claimed the win by 20.2 seconds from Simon Hegstad Krueger, who picked up his second silver medal of the Championships.

Harald Oestberg Amundsen had been well-placed but crashed on the final descent and eventually had to settle for the bronze as he came home 15 seconds further back.

Bolshunov, who won his first World Championship title in the skiathlon, has already claimed the overall crystal globe in the World Cup, but appeared to run out of gas in this one.

Meanwhile Britain’s Andrew Musgrave produced another fine effort as he finished tenth following his seventh place in the skiathlon.