BEIJING, Jan.8 (Xinhua) — Norway won the first ever mixed team event in the World Cup history of Nordic Combined in Predazzo, Italy on Friday.
Norway showed a strong team performance under sunny but cold conditions that morning. Jens Luraas Oftebro, Mari Leinan Lund, Joergen Graabak and Gyda Westvold Hansen collected a total of 122.6 points and took the lead after the Ski Jumping round. In second place was Austria with 121.8 points. Team Japan placed third with 119.2 points.
The top three changed after the 15 kilometer race held in Lago di Tesero in the afternoon.
During the cross-country race, Japan’s Yoshito Watabe lost one minute to the leaders from Norway, so Japan had to say goodbye to their hopes on the podium early on. The battle for the top three is between Norway, Germany and Austria.
Norway’s Gyda Westvold Hansen maintained her usual high standard, bringing Norway from fourth place to the lead with a wonderful catch-up. Joergen Graabak finished the race for the Norwegians in first place after 40:55.5 finally.
Austria finished second 10.5 seconds behind and 23.9 seconds ahead of third-placed Germany.
