Brandsal wins cross-country sprint; Pittin edges nordic combined

Jan 14, 2012, 16:45 GMT

Milan - Norway's Eirik Brandsal edged Germany's Josef Wenzl and Sweden's Tedor Peterson in a tight finish in a World Cup cross country ski World Cup sprint in Milan Saturday.

Brandsal crossed the line 0.2 seconds up on Wenzl and 0.3 seconds ahead of Peterson in the 1.4km race.

Dario Cologna of Switzerland leads the World Cup standings on 1,274 points ahead of Petter Northug of Norway (1,181) and Marcus Hellner of Sweden (803).

In the women's sprint, Inga Ingemarsdotter gained her first World Cup victory, edging Kikkan Randall of the United States.

Italian Alessandro Pittin won a nordic combined World Cup event, combining large hill jump and 10km race, ahead of Jason Lamy Chappuis of France and Fabian Riessle of Germany in a photo finish in Chaux-Neuve, France.

Lamy Chappuis leads the World Cup standings on 750 points, followed by Pittin (548) and Akito Watabe of Japan (492).

Strong winds and heavy snowfall forced the postponement of the World Cup ski flying event at Bad Mittendorf, Austria.

The event, with just one jump instead of two, has been rescheduled for Sunday at 0945 GMT before the afternoon's scheduled ski flying event.