Norway

Koivuranta wins Nordic combined World Cup, Demong last race

Anssi KoivurantaVikersund, Norway  - Anssi Koivuranta of Finland clinched the Nordic combined skiing World Cup title on Sunday with an eighth-place finish in the season-finale won by American world champion Bill Demong.

Koivuranta, 20, only required 29th place to clinch the title in the case that Norwegian rival Magnus Moan won, and all speculation ended when the Finn placed fourth in the morning ski-jumping portion.

Demong got his fifth season win by clocking 26 minutes 31.6 in the 10-kilometres cross-country pursuit, ahead of Norwegians Petter Tande (9.8 seconds behind) and Mikko Kokslien (10.3).

Austria win team ski-flying event in Vikersund

Austria win team ski-flying event in Vikersund Vikersund, Norway  - World champions Austria overcame Finland Saturday to claim victory in a team ski-flying event in Vikersund.

The team of Martin Koch, Wolfgang Loitzl, Thomas Morgenstern and World Cup leader Gregor Schlierenzauer won with a combined total of 1543.5 points with Koch setting a large hill record of 216.5 metres in the first round.

However, Koch's record didn't last long as Harri Olli improved the mark in the second round with a jump of 219m to help Finland and team-mates Matto Hautamaki, Kalle Keituri and Ville Larinto to a total of 1,499 points.

Koivuranta all but clinches Nordic combined crown

Koivuranta all but clinches Nordic combined crown Vikersund, Norway - Anssi Koivuranta of Finland all but assured himself of the World Cup title in Nordic combined skiing on Saturday when he won the penultimate competition of the season.

Koivuranta dominated the ski-jumping round and then cruised to his seventh season victory in 26 minutes 3.9 seconds for the 10- kilometres cross-country pursuit.

World champion Bill Demong of the United States came second 6.5 points behind the winner and Norway's Magnus Moan was third, 13.2 seconds off the pace.

Majdic finishes strongly for 30km win - Isida makes Japan podium

Majdic finishes strongly for 30km win - Isida makes Japan podium Trondheim, Norway - World Cup leader Petra Majdic of Slovenia put in an awesome finish on Saturday to win a women's 30-kilometres cross-country ski race.

Majdic trailed by more than 30 seconds after two thirds of the race, but caught up with the leaders in the closing stages and then skied away from the discipline's world champion Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland to win the classic style event in 1 hour 25 minutes 22.2 seconds.

Finland's Harri Olli takes World Cup event

Finland's Harri Olli takes World Cup event Lillehammer, Norway  - Finland's Harri Olli on Friday proved too strong for the rest of the field as he won the World Cup event at the Norwegian venue of Lillehammer.

Olli soared to leaps of 135.5 and 142.0 metres, for a total of 288.7 points, beating Dimitry Vassiljev into second place. The Russian, who was leading after the first round of jumps, finished on 275.2 points.

State pension fund drops Chinese company over sales to Myanmar

State pension fund drops Chinese company over sales to Myanmar Oslo - Sales of military trucks to Myanmar was Friday cited as the reason Norway's state pension fund removed Chinese company, Dongfeng Motor Group Co Ltd, from its list of assets.

"We cannot finance companies that support the military dictatorship in Burma through the sale of military materials," Finance Minister Kristin Halvorsen said in a statement.

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