Nordic World Championships - Last Day
The Nordic World Championships ended with a bang, and Norway's dominance was confirmed.
Janne Ahonen's individual gold on the high hill seemingly positioned Finland well for the team HS137 ski jumping event, but Austria won handily, just as they had on the normal hill earlier. Led by Martin Hollwarth, who jumped 138 and 138.5 meters, the Austrians beat silver-medalist Finland (for whom Ahonen made a stunning 142.5-meter jump) and bronze-medalist Norway. (The Norwegians had gone out drinking after jumping miserably in the normal hill team event, and apparently the boozing helped them fly off the large hill.)
Like the team jumping event, the final nordic combined event, the sprint, saw a champion recapitulate his success. Germany's Ronny Ackermann had jumped well enough in the morning to start the ski race in second position, whereupon he outraced Norwegians Magnus Moan and Kristian Hammer to seize the gold. With two golds in the individual events and a silver in the nordic combined team event, Ackermann was Germany's most successful athlete at the championships.
The climactic event of the championships was the men's 50km ski marathon, contested in the classic or diagonal style. Always a war of attrition, the 30-mile event took place in a heavy snowstorm that slowed the racers and ensured that a big group would be in the hunt for the podium spots. At the 42.5km mark, only four seconds separated the top twenty racers - a tighter margin than had existed at 27.5km . Taking a cue from their compatriot Marit Bjorgen, three Norwegian skiers broke away from the lead group on the race's final climb and then fought to reach the line first. Ultimately, Frode Estil won by less than a second over Anders Aukland and 1.4 seconds over Odd-Bjoern Hjelmeset.
Thanks to the hat trick in the marathon, Norway won exactly half of the dozen cross-country skiing events and collected 19 medals in total, far outpacing Germany and Russia (7 medals each, both with 2 golds). Among all the medal-winning countries, Canada was the only non-European nation to win a medal. The 2007 championships will be in Sapporo, Japan, where the host nation and China may have outside chances at medals.
Janne Ahonen's individual gold on the high hill seemingly positioned Finland well for the team HS137 ski jumping event, but Austria won handily, just as they had on the normal hill earlier. Led by Martin Hollwarth, who jumped 138 and 138.5 meters, the Austrians beat silver-medalist Finland (for whom Ahonen made a stunning 142.5-meter jump) and bronze-medalist Norway. (The Norwegians had gone out drinking after jumping miserably in the normal hill team event, and apparently the boozing helped them fly off the large hill.)
Like the team jumping event, the final nordic combined event, the sprint, saw a champion recapitulate his success. Germany's Ronny Ackermann had jumped well enough in the morning to start the ski race in second position, whereupon he outraced Norwegians Magnus Moan and Kristian Hammer to seize the gold. With two golds in the individual events and a silver in the nordic combined team event, Ackermann was Germany's most successful athlete at the championships.
The climactic event of the championships was the men's 50km ski marathon, contested in the classic or diagonal style. Always a war of attrition, the 30-mile event took place in a heavy snowstorm that slowed the racers and ensured that a big group would be in the hunt for the podium spots. At the 42.5km mark, only four seconds separated the top twenty racers - a tighter margin than had existed at 27.5km . Taking a cue from their compatriot Marit Bjorgen, three Norwegian skiers broke away from the lead group on the race's final climb and then fought to reach the line first. Ultimately, Frode Estil won by less than a second over Anders Aukland and 1.4 seconds over Odd-Bjoern Hjelmeset.
Thanks to the hat trick in the marathon, Norway won exactly half of the dozen cross-country skiing events and collected 19 medals in total, far outpacing Germany and Russia (7 medals each, both with 2 golds). Among all the medal-winning countries, Canada was the only non-European nation to win a medal. The 2007 championships will be in Sapporo, Japan, where the host nation and China may have outside chances at medals.
posted by Christopher Tassava at Monday, February 28, 2005
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