Nordic Skiing: Moan sprints to first win in World Cup

Norway's Magnus Moan won his first career Nordic combined World Cup event yesterday, holding off the three-times Olympic champion Samppa Lajunen down the stretch.

Moan finished the sprint event in 20min 32.1sec, 1.8sec ahead of the Finn. The American Todd Lodwick was third, 24.2sec back.

The 20-year-old Norwegian was just eighth after the jump but seized the lead after the second lap of the 7.5km sprint race, then fought off Lajunen's challenge.

Germany's Ronny Ackermann, who had dominated this year, finished eighth after a poor jump left him 19th and out of contention, but he retains a big lead in the overall standings, with 582 points from seven World Cups this season. Second is Finland's Hannu Manninen with 450. "This just wasn't my day. After the weak jump, I also didn't have the fastest skis on," Ackermann said.