Norwegian skiers edge Switzerland in team event at finals

SOLDEU (AP): Norway won the mixed team parallel event at the World Cup Finals on Friday after Timon Haugan beat his Swiss opponent Semyel Bissig in the decisive run.

Livio Simonet and Andrea Ellenberger gave Switzerland a 2-1 lead in the final, but Haugan’s triumph handed Norway the victory as its faster run times broke a 2-2 tie.

Only six nations took part in the event, which was likely held for the last time in its current format with teams consisting of two men and two women.

The United States — which won the world title last month — France, Slovenia and Sweden were among the most notable teams skipping Friday’s event.

The parallel format has been dropped from the Olympic schedule for the 2026 Turin-Cortina Games and is expected to be replaced by a different team competition at the finals next year.

It was the second time after 2021 that Norway, competing with Haugan, Rasmus Windingstad, Thea Louise Stjernesund and Maria Therese Tviberg, won the team event at the finals. Norway also won the gold medal at the world championships the same year.

Switzerland are the record five-time winners at the finals.

Norway beat Olympic champion Austria 3-1 in the semifinals, before the Austrians won all runs in a 4-0 rout of Germany in the duel for third place.