Heidi Weng (NOR) beat everyone on the uphill roller ski race Lysebotn Opp, leaving no doubt who owns the monster hill climb.
The uphill time trial Lysebotn Opp on Thursday afternoon features a grueling 7.5-kilometer course with a total of 640 meters elevation gain, and was the opening event for the 2015 Blink Summer Ski Festival.
Weng, who struggled in the same uphill race last summer, had considered her strategy carefully. She started out conservatively, then increased the pace more and more the steeper the terrain. And nobody could follow.
“Last year, I really hit the wall here on these hills, and the main reason was that I started out way too hard. So this time, I had decided to be a little more careful from the start, and my strategy held up all the way to the finish line,” Weng said to the local newspaper Aftenbladet after her race.
Weng comes off her strongest World Cup season ever, and is also the Norwegian champion of uphill trail running after winning the brutal and prestigious event Skuggedalen Opp on May 30. The 4.4km uphill race features more than 500 meters of elevation gain.