March 10, 2014 (Oslo, Norway) – While the day belonged to Norway’s Marit Bjoergen with a resounding victory in the women’s 30km CL for a a record-setting fourth Holmenkollen victory, US fans marked Kikkan Randall’s career-best 12th effort followed by Sadie Bjornsen in 14th.

Claiming second on the day was Bjoergen’s teammate and  last year’s winner, Therese Johaug, while the Finnish camp was all smiles as Kerttu Niskanen claimed the biggest win of her career taking 3rd.

According to FIS it was Bjoergen’s 100th podium and 66th career World Cup win. Her previous Holmenkollen 30km victories include 2005, 2010, and 2012.

“Holmenkollen is a super fun place to race. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, out on course knows your name,” Randall told Trax post-race. “I actually had really good energy at the end of the race. To me it felt like I had plenty of gas in the tank but the limitation was more technical.” Randall’s previous best was 18th (FR) and 23rd (CL) in the 30km.

For Bjornsen, who’s had an up and down season with more sickness than she’d like, it was affirmation of her skills and condition as she sat between 15th-20th for the entire race and moved up to 14th at the finish.

“I was so happy to see that my form was back on track. It’s been a tough season and I’m just getting over another bout of sickness so it’s a relief to have a solid day and result. My skis were great and I latched on to a group of Norwegians which is always good in the Holmenkollen,” commented Bjornsen.

Following a clean start Finland’s Aino-Kaisa Saarinen was leading at the first interval at 1.8km but Bjoergen and Johaug took over and began their onslaught earlier than expected as a 6.9s gap formed to Niskanen in third by the 2.7km mark with Saarinen at 9.6s. Sweden’s Emma Wiken and Charlotte Kalla were close behind as a foursome soon formed trying in vain to cut their losses to the Norwegian attack.

Bjoergen was in a class of her own dropping Johaug at the 7.2km interval and by the end of the second lap when most went in for a ski exchange the gap was 39s to Johaug. Niskanen and Saarinen opted to continue while Kalla and Wiken swapped their boards and began to chase back the Finns. Randall and Bjornsen were grateful for the opportunity to change as well.

“It’s a very challenging course but it was quite firm and all the downhills were pretty fast – it was really nice to have such a firm track,” commented Randall. “My skis were a little slick in the first half of the race, decent for the first 5km loop but I struggled a bit up the big climbs on the first 8km lap. Changed skis at 13km and had better skis in the 2nd half of the race.  Thank goodness for the ski change today or those last two laps would have been brutal.”

Astrid Jacobsen was unfortunately unable to continue soon after the exchange and needed medical assistance. Meanwhile Kalla caught the Finns by the 18km mark as Bjoergen extended her lead to 1:18 over Johaug as the chasers were at two minutes. With under 10km to go the real battle was for the bronze.

Bjoergen was smiling when she arrived at the stadium with ample time to grap a Norwegian flag as she skied over the final roller and down the finishing stretch waving to fans as the king and queen looked on with adoration. Johaug crossed the line in second and Niskanen prevailed over Kalla for third.

The famed Holmenkollen was once again the site of historic skiing as all eyes now turn to Falun, Sweden for the final battles as Bjoergen challenges Johaug for the overall World Cup title.

Results here.
World Cup Overall here.