January 31, 2011 (Otepaa, Estonia) – Norway’s Ingvild Flugstad Oestberg escaped with teammate Ingunn Britt Nydal during the skate portion in the women’s 15m pursuit for a 1-2 gold-silver punch with Finland’s Kerttu Niskanen netting bronze as American Sadie Bjornsen from Methow, WA, skied a strong race to lead the North Americans in 17th.

Canada’s Alysson Marshall was the top Canuck in 19th with the USA’s Caitlin Patterson just behind in 20th as the duo skied together through much of the competition with Marshall besting her Yankee partner by 1-second at the finish.

Canada’s Emily Nishikawa, who was 17th after the classic portion, faded a bit over the second half of the race to finish 25th.  The USA’s Rebecca Rorabaugh finished 30s later in 25th with Sara Hewitt (CAN) 28th, Jennie Bender (USA) 29th and Erin Tribe from Canada in 32nd.

As the classic portion got underway it was Niskanen and Oestberg controlling the race as the two established an early gap with the Finnish skier, who won the classic sprint title earlier in the competition, pushing the pace. Oestberg was the only one who could match her and held on knowing she’d be stronger in the skate portion. Behind the chasers were strung out with Nydal at the front but she could not bridge to the leaders.

Following the exchange at the 7.5km mark Oestberg attacked and now it was Niskanen’s turn to struggle. Soon she had more to worry about as Nydal, the second strong Norwegian in the race, was gaining on her.

“Usually I get very tired when I change the skis,” said Nydal post race. “Today I took it a bit easier and so I had power when I changed the skis.”

It wasn’t long before a trio formed and then Oestberg attacked but only Nydal could respond as Niskanen dangled off the back keeping the leaders in sight. While Oestberg looked strong her team mate could not be discounted.

On the final lap Oestberg kept the pressure on and as the stadium and finish approached she could not be denied breaking away from Nydal to solo in for the gold.

“I was hoping for a medal today. I knew it was going to be a hard race and I am very happy to be first. Kerttu (Niskanen) was skiing very fast in the classic part and I tried to hang on,” said Oestberg.

It was Patterson’s second time racing in Europe and the US skier gained valuable experience. “It was a solid day for me, though not an exceptional race,” she told SkiTrax by email. “I felt fairly good on the uphills in both legs but the flats were extremely challenging and I lost time. It was great to have other US racers out cheering for us and waving US flags. I’m still learning some of the “tricks” of international racing, and definitely will be more experienced and prepared the next time against such a strong field of skiers.”

For Canada’s Nishikawa it was a tough day at the office. “The course was really nice, and the conditions were great but today definitely wasn’t my best race. I was happy with my classic leg, but then I started to fade during the skate. I was hoping to be a lot stronger on the skate, but just didn’t have the legs today.”

A 6-time Junior World Champion today’s win was Oestberg’s first U23 World Championship victory but it was a hard-fought victory and not a sure thing for the talented skier.

“I was not sure about the win,” she said. “The skating part was quite good for me, but Britt (Ingunn Nydal) was going very fast so it was hard. I thought someone was going to ski faster than me. My next competition will be the Scandinavian Cup.”

Full results HERE.