Oestberg repeats in Davos

(Davos, Switzerland) - Ingvild Flugstad Oestberg (NOR) declared Davos to be her favourite place to compete shortly after she repeated as the ladies' 10 km interval start competition today in the free technique.  It is Oestberg's third victory in total in Davos having also won a sprint event in 2014.  Ragnhild Haga of Norway continued her strong start to the season with her third straight World Cup distance podium.  In third was Finland's Krista Parmakoski just +7.9 seconds behind Oestberg and +2.0 behind Haga.  It was a tight top 5 with a two way tie for 5th between Austria's Teresa Stadlober and Switzerland's Natalie Von Siebenthal +16.4 seconds back.  Heidi Weng of Norway was 4th +14.5 back.  Pre-race favourites Charlotte Kalla (SWE) and Marit Bjoergen (NOR) finished 8th and 9th respectively more than 30 seconds off the pace of Oestberg.

Today's competition marked the return of a full team from France placing 3 in the top 26.  Notably all three are mothers (Aurore Jean 16th, Anouk Faivre Picon 22nd, Caroline Thomas Hugue 26th) who have returned to top level competition and were competing in their first World Cup distance competitions of the season.

ATHLETE QUOTES

Ingvid Flugstad Oestberg (NOR)
It feels amazing to win. Davos is my favourite place, it’s almost the only venue I can win a World Cup. This is what I have been training for the whole year.

Ragnhild Haga (NOR)
It was a very close race. It was exciting. Only 2 km before the finish I was not sure if I make it on the podium or not. I’m very happy to finish 2nd. It's great for Ingvild to win this race.

Krista Parmakoski (FIN)
I started maybe a little bit too fast. I focused that I have good technique and a steady pace. It's important to be cautious racing at altitude and not produce too much lactate. I am happy with how I did that today. It was a good race.

OFFICIAL RESULTS

LADIES 10 km F

1. OESTBERG Ingvild Flugstad 1990 NOR 25:28.5
2. HAGA Ragnhild 1991 NOR +5.9
3. PARMAKOSKI Krista 1990 FIN +7.9
4. WENG Heidi 1991 NOR +14.5
5. STADLOBER Teresa 1993 AUT +16.4
5. VON SIEBENTHAL Nathalie 1993 SUI +16.4

Complete RESULTS

OVERALL WORLD CUP STANDINGS

1. KALLA Charlotte SWE 470 pts
2. OESTBERG Ingvild Flugstad NOR 392
3. WENG Heidi NOR 386

Complete