February 13, 2009 – After losing the coveted Marc Hodler Trophy to Germany last year, Norway again emerged as the best team at the FIS Nordic Junior World Ski Championships 2009. In the ranking including the eight Cross-Country competitions – carried out in Praz de Lys (Fra) – and the three Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined competitions each, staged in Strbske Pleso (Svk), Norway collected a total of 161 points. The Norwegian team beat 2nd placed Germany by 20 points while Russia finished 3rd. For the detailed results table, click here.

There were two athletes that shone above the others at the 2009 Cross-Country Junior Worlds. The unquestionable queen of the event was Ingvild Flugstad Oestberg from Norway, who won all three individual competitions (sprint, pursuit and interval start) and also claimed victory with her team in the relay competition. On the men’s side, the dominator was Petr Sedov from Russia who collected three gold medals, in the pursuit, interval start and the relay. Only the sprint victory went to another male athlete – Sedov’s teammate Alexander Panzhinskiy. In total, 6 of the 33 participating nations collected a podium place. The medal ranking in Cross-Country was won by Russia with 7 medals (4-2-1) ahead of Norway with 8 medals (4-1-3) and Sweden with (0-3-1).

In Strbske Pleso (SVK), both men’s Ski Jumping titles went to Austria. In the individual competition, 16-year-old Lukas Mueller earned victory with the longest jump of the competition. Mueller collected his second gold together with the team which narrowly beat Germany in the team event. In the junior ladies competition, the Germans took a double victory with Magdalena Schnurr ahead of Anna Haefele. Only 13-year-old Coline Mattel of France claimed the bronze medal.

In Nordic Combined, Alessandro Pittin, the first Italian Nordic Combined champion in history, successfully defended his 2008 title in Strbske Pleso (Slovakia) and is now a three-time champion as he won both of the individual competitions. The win in the team competition went to Norway which won ahead of France and Germany.