Hansen wins Mass Start in Val di Fiemme

Gyda Westvold Hansen won her sixth World Cup competition in a row, with a strong performance on the jumping hill, after Anju Nakamura was in the lead after the Women’s Mass Start race in Val di Fiemme (ITA) today. 

After Race Director Lasse Ottesen opened the race with a starting shot for the second Mass start of the season, all athletes went together on the demanding 5 km course in Lago this afternoon.

Nakamura took the lead early on and after 2.5 km was almost 2.7 seconds ahead of Cindy Haasch from Germany and overall World Cup leader Gyda Westvold Hansen (+ 3.0 seconds). The chasing group consisted of five athletes at that time, but they could not keep up with the high speed of the Japanese.

After 3.7 km, Nakamura, who also wears the red bib as Best Skier, had extended her lead to a strong 23 seconds, could no longer be caught and was the first to cross the finish line after 5 km.

Behind her, Hansen started a brilliant race to catch up in the yellow bib and was 9 seconds ahead of teammate Marte Leinan Lund and Lisa Hirner from Austria after 3.7 km.

The Norwegian reached the finish 17.1 seconds behind Nakamura, who will start the Ski Jumping round with a 4.3 points lead. Third place in the cross-country race was taken by Lisa Hirner (+ 22.5 sec, -5.6 pts) from Austria.

During the Ski Jumping round Hansen proofed her strength on the HS 106 in Predazzo and showed the furthest jump of the day with 101 meters (124.6 pts). 
Rank two after jumping went to Anju Nakamura who was in the lead after the cross-country race. The Japanese couldn’t defend the first place with 91.5 meters and a total of 110.5 points. 
Austrian Lisa Hirner, managed to keep her position and finished third (92.5 m, 109.4 pts), reaching her second Individual World Cup podium. 

Results: Women Mass Start NH/5 km CC – 8.1.22
Overall Results: Women Mass Start NH/5 km – 8.1.22