Bjørgen and Rønning won on-snow race in Vågå

Published: Thu Jun 21, 2007 2:00 AM MDT

The Norwegian national team finished their camp at Sognefjellet last week with an on-snow sprint race in the town of Vågå. Marit Bjørgen and Eldar Rønning were the winners. Check out the photos.

Results:

Herrer:

1. Eldar Rønning

2. Simen Østensen

3. Øystein Pettersen

4. Tor Arne Hetland

Damer:

1. Marit Bjørgen

2. Guro Strøm Solli

3. Ella Gjømle

4. Astrid Uhrenholt Jacobsen

The race included prologue, heats and c, b and a-finals.

- It’s always good to compete. We appreciate that and that’s why we often end a camp with a competition, said national team Chief Åge Skinstad.

He liked what he observed at the camp and many of the athletes showed that the summer training is going well.

- Marit was very impressive today. She was in a class by herself, said Skinstad.

The competition among the men was a lot tighter and Rønning edged Østensen and Pettersen in a photo finish.

Skinnstad said that the camp was very successful and that he had never experienced better skiing conditions in June at Sognefjellet.

- That includes abroad. The skiing was incredible except for on Thursday, said Åge Skinstad.

Next up before “summer vacation” for the national team is a dryland camp in Kragerø and Oslo for the women’s team while the men’s team will do a camp in Petter Northug’s hometown Mosvik.

Photos from the June 16.