Sweet revenge for Iversen with 30 km victory

Emil Iversen of Norway who lost yesterday’s 1.4 km sprint competition by just 0.06 seconds came back today in Falun with a big 30 km mass start classic victory. A sweet revenge after yesterday’s disappointment. Team tactics by Norway could be seen early as teammates of Martin Johnsrud Sundby - the current World Cup overall leader - surged forward to take as many World Cup bonus points as possible. Sundby took second place +3.7 seconds behind his teammate. In third to the excitement of the home crowd was Sweden’s Calle Halfvarsson +5.6 back. Halfvarsson broke up a possible Norwegian sweep of the podium by crossing the line just 0.1 seconds ahead of Sjur Roethe.

• Sundby now leads World Cup overall by 344 seconds over Sergey Ustiugov RUS

• Sundby increased distance World Cup lead to 286 over Matti Heikkinen FIN

• Second career World Cup distance victory for Iversen (Ski Tour Canada - Montreal 2016)

• Best results of the season for Roethe (4th), Niklas Dyrhaug (5th), Daniel Rickardsson (ties best in 7th).

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ATHLETE QUOTES

Emil Iversen NOR
Yeah it’s a great win today. I have been training well for 14 days and thought I could race both events well this weekend. If I had to choose between yesterday and today I am really happy to win today.

Martin Johnsrud Sundby NOR
It was a good effort today. I was able to get a lot a bonus points during the race and second place also helps. Happy to see Emil get his win today after yesterday’s photo finish.

Calle Halfvarsson SWE
I didn’t have the shape today for a podium finish but I had podium skis. They were very fast.

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OFFICIAL RESULTS

MEN 30 km classic mass start
1. IVERSEN Emil NOR 1:15:46.7
2. SUNDBY Martin Johnsrud NOR +3.7
3. HALFVARSSON Calle SWE +5.6
4. ROETHE Sjur NOR +5.7
5. DYRHAUG Niklas NOR +8.2

Complete results are available HERE.

OVERALL WORLD CUP STANDINGS
1. Martin Johnsrud Sundby NOR 1348 pts
2. Sergey Ustiugov RUS 1004
3. Matti Heikkinen FIN 792

WORLD CUP DISTANCE STANDINGS
1. Martin Johnsrud Sundby NOR 778 pts
2. Matti Heikkinen FIN 492
3. Alex Harvey CAN 430