By Nick Butler

Maiken Caspersen Falla sprinted to success on a day of home domination in Drammen ©FIS/Nordic FocusMaiken Caspersen Falla and Eirik Brandsdal topped a day of Norwegian domination at the final cross country sprint World Cup event of the season in Drammen.


In beautiful sunshine in front of a passionate crowd of around 15,000 people, the duo delivered the perfect tonic to the home fans as Norway proved utterly dominant over the 1.3 kilometres classic distance. 

In the women's event, Falla edged out team mate Heidi Weng by only 0.72 seconds, while Marit Bjørgen completed the clean sweep with bronze.

"I have to say Drammen is my favourite course," said the winner afterwards.

"The crowd was amazing and the atmosphere was thrilling."

Although she will have been disappointed to miss out today to her two team mates, Bjørgen's performance did give her a fifth overall World Cup sprint crystal globe total and a first since the last of four consecutive triumph in 2006.

She joins another Norwegian, Bente Skari, as the only female athlete to win five sprint globes.

Eirik Brandsdal also enjoyed a sprint victory at the Norwegian resort ©FIS/Nordic FocusEirik Brandsdal also enjoyed a sprint victory at the Norwegian resort ©FIS/Nordic Focus



In the men's event, Brandsdal secured a second World Cup in a row and his third of the season, passing Italy's Federico Pellegrino in the process to finish second in the overall sprint standings.

His performance was not quite enough to overhaul overall leader Finn Hagen Krogh however, as the Norwegian star placed second to secure a first ever sprint globe, while Pellegrino placed third overall despite exiting at the semi-final stage.

Ola Vigen Hattestad secured the second Norwegian clean sweep of the day by taking third place in Drammen.

The World Cup season now moves to Oslo for the final women's 30km and men's 50 km events of the season this weekend.

Contact the writer of this story at nick.butler@insidethegames,biz


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