“The Crystal Globe is heavier than I expected,” Heidi Weng (NOR) said after the awards ceremony.
Since the FIS World Cup season opener in Finland in November, Weng has been consistently on the podium all season long, and took home the crystal globe after the mini tour in Canada this weekend. The 26-year-old moved in on the podium in December and has hardly given it up since.
Weng went into the 10-kilometer pursuit in Quebec (CAN), the final race of the mini tour and the very last race of the 2017 World Cup season, with a 1-second lead. She skied strategically smart the whole way, but lost the sprint finish by 1.2 seconds to Marit Bjørgen (NOR).
“It was a great race between me and Marit. But I probably should have saved the attack and energy for the home stretch,” Weng said after the pursuit race.
However, second place in the mini tour was plenty to secure the Overall World Cup victory, where Madshus racers plastered the entire podium.
Owning the podium
Heading into the mini tour World Cup final in Quebec, Weng lead the overall World Cup by 300 points to Krista Pärmäkoski (FIN) and had already secured the overall victory. Ingvild Flugstad Østberg (NOR) was third. This was also the final ranking.
Weng also won the 2017 Distance World Cup, while Pärmäkoski was third.
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Delivered on all goals
Going into the 2017 season, Weng had the overall World Cup as a main goal, along with the 2017 FIS Nordic World Championships in Lahti (FIN) and the FIS Tour de Ski.
At the end of the season, Weng has delivered on all: She won the Overall World Cup and the Distance World Cup, she won Tour de Ski, and she took home three medals from the World Championships: She helped Norway to gold in both the team sprint and the 4x5km relay, and won the silver medal in the 30km skate mass start in Lahti.
Pärmäkoski also took home two medals from the World Championships: she won the silver medal in the 7.5km + 7.5km duathlon and anchored Finland to the bronze medal in the relay.