The women’s race started at 8:45 am, and after the first long climb three skiers were in a breakaway. Britta Johansson Norgren, Katerina Smutna and Lina Korsgren skied together until they reached the second long climb about 20 km before the finish. At the finishline Katerina Smutna had to be satisfied in second place, while Britta Johansson Norgren took third place and thus is still in the lead of the overall ranking.
In the men’s race Andreas Nygaard looked fresh and confident throughout the race, and he positioned himself well just before the finish. There were 15 skiers approaching the stadium area when Andreas Nygaard, the sprint specialist, took the victory followed by his teammate Tord Asle Gjerdalen (Team Ragde Eiendom, Fischer skis, bindings and boots) and the Finnish skier Ari Luusua (Team Mäenpää, Fischer skis, bindings and boots) who wrote history by becoming the fist Finnish skier to make the podium in a Visma Ski Classic race.
The happy winner, who took over the lead in the overall ranking in absence of Petter Eliassen (Team BN Bank, Fischer skis, bindings and boots) due to sickness, declared: “It seems that every time I’m sick and bedridden I come back stronger. I felt really strong today, and we had good skis. It was a hard race from the beginning, and the weather kept changing making it quite challenging.
Now, I’m going home and I will do a local race there next weekend and get ready for defending my Vasaloppet title.”
