Trondheim (NOR): Norway wins Mixed Team on home soil

Team Norway is the winner of the Mixed Team event in Trondheim (NOR).

In sunny conditions at the Granåsen HS105 team Austria showed a strong team performance on the hill at noon.

Annalena Slamik (78.5 m), Stefan Rettenegger (101.5 m), Johannes Lamparter (104 m) and Lisa Hirner (95 m) collected a total of 422.9 points and took the lead after the Ski Jumping round.

Rank 2 was taken by team Japan, with Haruka Kasai (92.5 m), Ryota Yamamoto (99.5 m), Akito Watabe (96.5 m) and Yuna Ksai (90.5 m) who were in the lead for a long time, until Austria took over. With 409.9 points they went into the cross-country race 13 seconds after the leaders.

Team Norway placed third with 406.8 points, so that Ida Marie Hagen (92 m), Jens Luraas Oftebro (96 m), Joergen Graabak (95 m) and Gyda Westvold Hansen (91.5 m) started the race 16 seconds behind Austria.

The 15 kilometer race (5 km – 2.5 km – 2.5 km – 5km) took place in the Granåsen stadium in the afternoon.

Stefan Rettenegger kept a high pace throughout the first round and was able to keep Oftebro at a 14.3 sec distance at the 2.5 km mark, meanwhile Yamamoto fell back and was already 27.9 sec behind the leader after one lap.

Oftebro tried to close the gap to Rettenegger on the last uphill before entering the stadium, but couldn’t catch the Austrian, who handed over to Lisa Hirner at the first exchange.
Gyda Westvold Hansen took over for Norway and went, due to Oftebros strong finish, only 5.9 seconds behind the leader into her 2.5km race.
Meanwhile, Faisst caught up to Yamamoto and handed over to Nathalie Armbruster on rank three (+52.9 sec), while Haruka Kasai (+53.2 sec) followed closely behind.

Hirner confidently defended Austrias lead against Hansen, keeping the strong Norwegian at a distance, while Armbruster and Kasai went through the race together until the next exchange.

Hagen set sails for Norwegian win

Hirner handed over to Annalena Slamik who took a 9.4 sec lead into her 2.5km ahead of Ida Marie Hagen.
Armbruster (+44.6 sec) handed over to Jenny Nowak, while Kasai (+45.2 sec) sent her sister Yuna in the race on 4^thplace, closely behind the Germans.
Hagen caught up to Slamik already on the first kilometer and extended the lead to 11 sec after a total of 8.8 km.
While the Norwegian grew the distance to the Austrian more and more, Nowak and Kasai also put a lot of pressure on Slamik from behind.

Hagen handed over to Graabak at the last exchange with a 47.3 sec lead, while Hirner sent Johannes Lamparter into the last 5 km of the day, who started a strong catch-up race right away.
Johannes Rydzek and Akito Watabe went into the race together after the 3^rdand final exchange, ready for a tight fight for rank 3.
Meanwhile, Lamparter tried to close the gap to Graabak and reduced the distance to 31.4 sec after the first lap.

Although he gave it his all, the Austrian wasn’t able to fully catch the Norwegian in the end.
Graabak crossed the finish line first, securing the victory for team Norway on home soil, only 12.1 seconds before Johannes Lamparter who brought the second place to Austria.
On the last uphill, Rydzek was able to pull a gap to Watabe, who couldn’t follow the strong skier.
Therefore, Germany took rank three, 53.2 seconds behind Norway, while Japan (+1:03.8 min) placed fourth.