Vik makes nordic combined history with gold at worlds

Vik, 29, won the ski jumping portion with 92 metres and a day's best of 95.5 metres and then clocked 39 minutes 26.7 seconds in the 15km cross country pursuit for victory.

Samppa Lajunen of Finland outsprinted Austrian World Cup leader Felix Gottwald in the closing stages to earn a third silver after the 1998 Olympics and 1999 worlds, 1:04.6 behind the winner. The bronze medallist Gottwald trailed the winner by 1:10.3 minutes.

Lajunen was sixth after the jumping, Gottwald fourth, but neither had a chance of winning gold as they trailed Vik by 2:43 and 2:30 minutes respectively after the jumping session.

In the nordic combined event the ski jumping points are converted into times for the pursuit section. The first man across the finish line gets the gold medal.

Vik is a two-times 1998 Olympic champion and only the third overall back-to-back winner at world championships. The others were compatriots Hans Vinjarengen (1929 and 1930) and Oddbjorn Hagen (1934 and 1935).

With four gold and three silver medals at world championships, Vik toppled Japan's Kenji Ogiwara, who has four golds and a bronze. Ogiwara also won two individual titles, but not at successive events.

Vik, who took a three-week break from World Cup action to get in shape for the season climax, is also defending champion in the sprint event scheduled for next Saturday. Another gold may be possible in Tuesday's team event.

While Vik did not need to give it all he had owing to his massive lead from the ski jumping, Jaekko Tallus of Finland and Daito Takahashi of Japan failed to hold onto their second and third places and dropped behind.

Finland's Hannu Manninen, by contrast, climbed from ninth to fourth place overall and Norway's Kristian Hammer gained 20 places in the skiing portion to finish fifth.

The world championships continue Saturday with the men's two-leg cross country pursuit.

(kil/dpa)