Pyeongchang Olympics: Norway holds off Sweden to win women's CC relay

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Norway returned to Olympic glory at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics Saturday night. The final leg of the women’s 4x5km relay ended with Marit Bjoergen anchoring the four member team to gold at the Alpensia Cross Country Centre. Sweden finished with a silver and the Olympic Athletes from Russia winning bronze.

Half the team from the gold medal winning Swedish team returned to defend their title with Finland and Germany sending the same or less from 2014. Of the four team members, each would have to complete five kilometers of either freestyle or classic skiing in the span of two laps before the exchange with their teammates could commence.

In a mass start, it was Norway getting out front with Sweden and Finland right behind. The skier from France had a slip early but recovered to stay with the pack of 14 competitors. At the first checkpoint, two packs shaped out with the one behind five seconds back. The first lap saw the Olympic Athletes from Russia out front with Norway behind by half a second followed by the defending Olympic champions and Slovenia.

The OAR and Norway opened a gap of six seconds running very close with one another halfway from making the first exchange with their teammates. Russia was the first send the second leg skier out with Slovenia Norway, Finland and Sweden rounding out the top five. Charlotte Kalla of the defending gold medal team came out to help try and make up time for her team. She was almost 20 seconds back of the leaders with one and a half laps to go.

When all the competitors reached the halfway point, the OAR opened a gap on the Scandinavian nations with Kalla closing the gap to finish her run 1.7 seconds behind the Russian contingency. Finland was ten second back with Norway a half minute behind at the exchange. They made up 16 seconds in the first lap of leg three sitting in third with Sweden overtaking the OAR to lead for the first time in the race.

 Sweden led them to the final tag of the race with OAR and Norway very close behind. Bjoergen was the anchor for Norway that would give them an honest chance of pulling off a medal for the first time since Vancouver 2010. Inside the first kilometer, Norway was out front for the first time since the opening leg with Sweden close and the gap widening between the two and the OAR.

With one lap to go, Norway continued to lead with Sweden in tow and the OAR more than 20 seconds back in third. It would be up to Anna Nechaevskaya to hold off Finland with Krista Parmakoski back 24 seconds of bronze medal position. Norway and Sweden were into the last one and a half kilometers with both wanting to take gold badly. It was up to the final climb where they were both in unison before Bjoergen opened up a five-meter lead on the downhill portion. It was the Norwegian who had a little more coming into the finish line where she held off Stina Nillson by two seconds.

The OAR held their ground to secure the bronze and first for the team since they won the relay at Torino in 2006. Bjoergen matched her countryman Ole Einar Bjorndalen as the most decorated woman with the most medals in their country’s history at the Winter Olympics with seven gold medals and 13 overall.