There was also success for Germany in the team competitions as they earned the world titles in both the Nordic combined and the mixed team ski jumping.

Despite Norway's strength in cross-country skiing they had failed to win a medal in the team sprint at the 2013 World Championships, but Ingvild Flugstad Østberg and Maiken Caspersen Falla ensured history wouldn't be repeated this year as they stormed to gold in the women's event.

Østberg broke free of the field on the first leg of the relay event and her team mate Falla assumed the responsibility of claiming the world title, as the pairing finished in 14min 29.57sec, over eight seconds clear of their nearest challengers.

"This is my first senior World Championship gold," Østberg stated.

"It was only when ten metres of the race remained that I knew we would win.

"My dream came true."

Petter Northug and Finn Haagen Krogh added to Norway's cross country success in Falun ©Getty Images



In the fight for the remaining medals the hosts Sweden came out on top with Ida Ingemarsdotter and Stina Nilsson taking the silver, while Justyna Kowalczyk and Sylwia Jaśkowiec of Poland saw off German competition for bronze.

There was déjà vu in the men's equivalent event as Finn Haagen Krogh and Petter Northug Jr teamed up to dominate the race from the outset.

Their time of 15min 32.89sec saw the duo win the event by more than five seconds and secured Northug's second gold medal of the World Championships, having won the individual sprint event.

Russia's Alexei Petukhov and Nikita Kriukov earned silver by the slender margin of 0.9sec from Italy's pairing of Dietmar Noeckler and Federico Pellegrino, who took bronze.

However, Norway's gold medal rush came to an end as they were forced to settle for silver medals in the Nordic combined and the mixed team ski jumping events behind Germany.

The German team, boasting newly crowned normal hill world champion Johannes Rydzek among their quartet of athletes, took control of the competition in the ski jump section of the event, with Eric Frenzel, Fabian Rießle and Tino Edelmann also posting good jumps.

They completed the victory in the cross country, posting a winning time of 44min 20.7sec, to finish 23.1sec ahead of the Norwegians.

Germany edged Norway to win the mixed team normal hill ski jumping ©AFP/Getty Images



Norway had begun the event in fifth place but despite an impressive performance were unable to catch up to the leaders, while France claimed bronze.

Germany were also likely to be a strong contender in the mixed team ski jumping, with Katharina Althaus and Richard Freitag joining newly crowned women's world champion Carina Vogt and men's silver medallist Severin Freund.

The German team were lying second after the first round of action, with a deficit of 2.5 points to the leaders Norway, however the roles were reversed when it mattered.

Their final round total of 917.9 proved enough to pip the Norwegians to gold by 2.3 points, while Japan were a long way off in bronze, finishing 29.6 points off the winners.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
February 2015: Skiathlon golds for Norway and Russia as Velta leaps to glory at Nordic World Ski Championships
February 2015: Germany secure double gold at Nordic Ski Championships
February 2015: Norway claim two world crowns on dominant day at Nordic Ski Championships
February 2015: FIS Nordic World Ski Championships begin with cross country qualifiers and Opening Ceremony